| |
| THOU lingering star, with lessening ray, | |
| That lov’st to greet the early morn, | |
| Again thou usherest in the day | |
| My Mary from my soul was torn. | |
| O Mary! dear, departed shade! | 5 |
| Where is thy place of blissful rest? | |
| Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? | |
| Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast? | |
| |
| That sacred hour can I forget, | |
| Can I forget the hallowed grove, | 10 |
| Where by the winding Ayr we met, | |
| To live one day of parting love? | |
| Eternity will not efface | |
| Those records dear of transports past; | |
| Thy image at our last embrace! | 15 |
| Ah! little thought we ’t was our last! | |
| |
| Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore, | |
| O’erhung with wild woods, thickening green; | |
| The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar | |
| Twined amorous round the raptured scene. | 20 |
| The flowers sprang wanton to be pressed, | |
| The birds sang love on every spray, | |
| Till too, too soon, the glowing west | |
| Proclaimed the speed of wingéd day. | |
| |
| Still o’er these scenes my memory wakes, | 25 |
| And fondly broods with miser care; | |
| Time but the impression deeper makes, | |
| As streams their channels deeper wear. | |
| My Mary! dear, departed shade! | |
| Where is thy place of blissful rest? | 30 |
| Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? | |
| Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast? | |
| |
