Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.
By Why Should We Sigh?William B. Tappan (1794–1849)
W
The ray that shone ’mid youthful tears,
Departing, leaves no kindly gleam,
To cheer the lonely waste of years?
Why should we sigh?—The fairy charm
That bound each sense in folly’s chain
Is broke, and Reason, clear and calm,
Resumes her holy rights again.
Claims the devotion once approved?
That joys endear’d, with us are o’er,
And gone are those these hearts have loved?
Why should we sigh?—Unfading bliss
Survives the narrow grasp of time;
And those that asked our tears in this,
Shall render smiles in yonder clime.