| |
| MILD orb, who floatest through the realm of night, | |
| A pathless wanderer o’er a lonely wild, | |
| Welcome to me thy soft and pensive light, | |
| Which oft in childhood my lone thoughts beguiled. | |
| Now doubly dear as o’er my silent seat, | 5 |
| Nocturnal study’s still retreat, | |
| It casts a mournful melancholy gleam, | |
| And through my lofty casement weaves, | |
| Dim through the vine’s encircling leaves, | |
| An intermingled beam. | 10 |
| |
| These feverish dews that on my temples hang, | |
| This quivering lip, these eyes of dying flame; | |
| These the dread signs of many a secret pang, | |
| These are the meed of him who pants for fame! | |
| Pale Moon, from thoughts like these divert my soul; | 15 |
| Lowly I kneel before thy shrine on high; | |
| My lamp expires;—beneath thy mild control | |
| These restless dreams are ever wont to fly. | |
| |
| Come, kindred mourner, in my breast | |
| Soothe these discordant tones to rest, | 20 |
| And breathe the soul of peace; | |
| Mild visitor, I feel thee here, | |
| It is not pain that brings this tear, | |
| For thou hast bid it cease. | |
| Oh! many a year has pass’d away | 25 |
| Since I, beneath thy fairy ray, | |
| Attuned my infant reed; | |
| When wilt thou, Time, those days restore, | |
| Those happy moments now no more— * * * * * | |
| When on the lake’s damp marge I lay, | 30 |
| And mark’d the northern meteor’s dance, | |
| Bland Hope and Fancy, ye were there | |
| To inspirate my trance. | |
| Twin sisters, faintly now ye deign | |
| Your magic sweets on me to shed, | 35 |
| In vain your powers are now essay’d | |
| To chase superior pain. | |
| |
| And art thou fled, thou welcome orb! | |
| So swiftly pleasure flies, | |
| So to mankind, in darkness lost, | 40 |
| The beam of ardour dies. | |
| Wan Moon, thy nightly task is done, | |
| And now, encurtain’d in the main, | |
| Thou sinkest into rest; | |
| But I, in vain, on thorny bed | 45 |
| Shall woo the god of soft repose— | |
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