Stanzas.
Afar, Oh Ladye Fair, Afar.
Afar, oh Ladye fair, afar1
From thee, and these delightful scenes,2
Beyond the restless Ocean’s jar,3
On former bliss my spirit leans.4
When all that was my heaven below,5
Hath vanished from my vacant view,6
Then Hope shall hold her glass, to show,7
As wont of yore, thy spirit true.8
True as the needle to the pole ,9
Pure as the thoughts of saints above ;10
Ah ! fairer form, and purer soul,11
Were never sanctified to Love !12
When in the west the sun declines,13
And twilight reigns in blue array,14
When in the south a planet shines
15
To herald the departing day,16
Oh, gaze upon it—warmly gaze,17
Too conscious, far beyond the sea,18
That one regards its silent rays,19
And has no other care but thee !20
How drearily the time will run,21
No bliss-fraught moments strewed between,22
When wakes the morn, and sinks the sun,23
And thou art silent and unseen !24
Thou !— ah ! it was my chief delight, 25
Thy mind to scan, thy form survey ;26
To dream about thee all the night,27
And linger near thee half the day.28
And shall it then be thus no more ?29
No more, beneath the shades of eve,30
Shall I, the form that I adore,31
With pleasure meet, with sorrow leave ?32
Yes! thus it must be ; but the sands33
Of envious Time shall never run,34
Which—tho’ it finds divided hands—35
Shall find our bosoms more than one.36