| |
| GOOD-NIGHT to thee, Lady! tho’ many | |
| Have join’d in the dance of to-night, | |
| Thy form was the fairest of any, | |
| Where all was seducing and bright; | |
| Thy smile was the softest and dearest, | 5 |
| Thy form the most sylph-like of all, | |
| And thy voice the most gladsome and clearest | |
| That e’er held a partner in thrall. | |
| |
| Good-night to thee, Lady! ’t is over— | |
| The waltz, the quadrille, and the song— | 10 |
| The whisper’d farewell of the lover, | |
| The heartless adieu of the throng; | |
| The heart that was throbbing with pleasure, | |
| The eye-lid that long’d for repose— | |
| The beaux that were dreaming of treasure, | 15 |
| The girls that were dreaming of beaux. | |
| |
| ’T is over—the lights are all dying, | |
| The coaches are driving away; | |
| And many a fair one is sighing, | |
| And many a false one is gay; | 20 |
| And Beauty counts over her numbers | |
| Of conquests, as homeward she drives— | |
| And some are gone home to their slumbers, | |
| And some are gone home to their wives. | |
| |
| And I, while my cab in the shower | 25 |
| Is waiting, the last at the door, | |
| Am looking all round for the flower | |
| That fell from your wreath on the floor. | |
| I’ll keep it—if but to remind me, | |
| Though wither’d and faded its hue— | 30 |
| Wherever next season may find me— | |
| Of England—of Almack’s—and you! | |
| |
| There are tones that will haunt us, tho’ lonely | |
| Our path be o’er mountain, or sea; | |
| There are looks that will part from us only | 35 |
| When memory ceases to be; | |
| There are hopes which our burthen can lighten, | |
| Tho’ toilsome and steep be the way; | |
| And dreams that, like moonlight, can brighten | |
| With a light that is clearer than day. | 40 |
| |
| There are names that we cherish, tho’ nameless, | |
| For aye on the lip they may be; | |
| There are hearts, tho’ fetter’d, are tameless, | |
| And thoughts unexpress’d, but still free! | |
| And some are too grave for a rover, | 45 |
| And some for a husband too light,— | |
| The Ball and my dream are all over— | |
| Good-night to thee, Lady, Good-night! | |
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