To Him Who Will Understand It

Thou art no more my bosom's Friend; Here must the sweet delusion end That charm'd my Senses many a year, Through smiling Summers—Winters drear.

O FRIENDSHIP! am I doom'd to find Thou art a Phantom of the Mind— A glitt'ring Shade, an empty Name, An air-born Vision's vap'rish Flame? And yet the dear Deceit so long Has wak'd to joy my Matin Song, Has bid my tears forget to flow, Chas'd ev'ry Pain, sooth'd every Woe; That TRUTH, unwelcome to my ear, Swells the deep sigh, recals the tear, Gives to the sense the keenest smart, Checks the warm pulses of the heart, Darkens my fate, and steals away Each gleam of joy through life's sad day.

BRITAIN, farewel! I quit thy shore; My Native Country charms no more; No guide, to mark the toilsome road, No destin'd clime, no fix'd abode, Alone and sad, ordain'd to trace, The vast expanse of endless space; To view upon the mountain's height, Thro' varied shade of glimm'ring light, The distant landscape fade away In the last gleam of parting day; Or in the quiv'ring lucid stream, To watch the pale Moon's silver beam; Or, when in sad and plaintive strains The Mournful PHILOMEL complains, In dulcet notes bewails her fate, Deserted by a FAITHLESS MATE; Inspir'd by Sympathy divine, I'll weep her Woes—FOR THEY ARE MINE.

Driven by my fate, where-e'er I go, O'er burning sands, o'er hills of snow; Or on the bosom of the wave, The howling tempest doom'd to brave; Where-e'er my lonely course I bend, Thy image shall my steps attend; Each object I am doom'd to see, Shall bid remembrance PICTURE THEE.

Yes, I shall VIEW THEE in each flow'r That changes with the transient hour; Thy wand'ring fancy I shall find Borne on the wings of every wind; Thy wild impetuous passions trace, O'er the white wave's tempestuous space; In every changing season prove, An emblem of thy wav'ring Love.

Torn from my Country, Friends, and YOU, The world lies open to my view; New objects shall my mind engage, I will explore th' HISTORIC PAGE; Sweet POETRY shall sooth my soul, PHILOSOPHY each pang control; The MUSE I'll seek—her lambent fire My soul's quick senses shall inspire I With finer nerves my heart shall beat, Touch'd by Heav'n's own Promethean heat; ITALIA's gales shall bear my song In soft-link'd notes her woods among; Upon the blue hill's misty side, Thro' trackless deserts, waste and wide; O'er craggy rocks, whose torrents flow; Upon the silver sands below; Sweet LAND of MELODY, 'tis thine The softest passions to refine; Thy myrtle groves thy melting strains, Shall harmonize and sooth my pains. Nor will I cast one thought behind, On Foes relentless—Friends unkind;— I feel, I feel their poison'd dart Pierce the life nerve within my heart, 'Tis mingled with the vital heat That bids my throbbing pulses beat; Soon shall that vital heat be o'er, Those throbbing pulses BEAT no more— No!—I will breathe the spicy gale, Plunge the clear stream, new health exhale; O'er my pale cheek diffuse the rose, And DRINK OBLIVION TO MY WOES!