A tear-oh, lovelier far to me, Shed for me in my saddest hour, Than bright and flattering smiles could be, With distant hopes of future weal; O'er desert sand and thorny brake, In scenes of bliss and hours of pride, I look'd upon the gift—and sigh'd: And when on ocean, or on clift, Forth strode the Spirit of the Storm, I gazed upon thy fading gift, I thought upon thy fading form; Forgot the rage of sky and sea, And of a heart-still all thine own, Art laid in that unconscious sleep, Which he that wails thee soon must know, Where none may smile, and none may weep, None dream of bliss, nor wake to woe. If e'er, as Fancy oft will feign, To that dear spot which gave thee birth Thy fleeting shade returns again, To look on him thou lov'dst on earth, It may a moment's joy impart, To know that this, thy favorite tree, Is to my desolated heart Almost as dear as thou could'st be. My Florence!-soon--the thought is sweet! The turf that wraps thee I shall press; Again, my Florence! we shall meet, In bliss—or in forgetfulness. With thee in Death's oblivion laid, I will not have the cypress gloom To throw its sickly, sullen shade, Over the stillness of my tomb: And there the 'scutcheon shall not shine, (1820.) MARIUS AMIDST THE RUINS OF CAR THAGE. Carthage! I love thee! thou hast run, As I, a warlike race; And now thy Glory's radiant sun As he whose sullen footstep falls To-night around thy crumbling walls. And Rome hath heaped her woes and pains Alike on me and thee And thou dost sit in servile chains,- Free, in the pride that scorns his foe, I wear not yet thy slavery's vest, As desolate I roam; And though the sword were at my breast, The torches in my home, Still-still, for orison and vow, I'd fling them back my curse—as now; My voice is weak to word and threat- (1821.) EDWARD MORTON. "NOVEMBER 26.-Heard of the death of poor Morton. If ever man died of love, it was Edward Morton. Since his death, a small collection of poems, written by him at different periods of his life, has been put into my hands; which I shall insert from time to time, with the signature 'E. M.'"-The Etonian, vol. i., pp. 313, 374. I. THERE was a voice--a foolish voice In my heart's summer echoing through me; It bade me hope, it bade rejoice, And still its sounds were precious to me; I will not love thee! I am taught To shun the dream on which I doted, On which its dearest vision floated; Alas! the love indeed is gone, But still I feel its melancholy; |