Elegy IV.
(Imitated from the Modern Latin.)
When I that form no longer view,1
I shall not smile, as some can do,2
Nor blush to mourn the bosom gone,3
That mine so oft has lean’d upon.4
’Tis sad to think our love should last5
No better than the former past,6
And sad to think that future bliss7
Must haply find an end like this ;8
Yet had our flame been truly hearted,9
Surely we could not thus have parted,10
And had it never touch’d the heart,11
We should not thus have had to part.12
Indulge thy tears—they now are sweet,13
Though, haply, if again we meet,14
We both may hold our sorrow cheap,15
And smile to think that we could weep.16
I know that many a girl may wear17
As laughing lips, as glossy hair,18
As smooth a cheek, as fair a brow ,19
But yet I cannot think so now :20
Those gentle eyes, so kind the while,21
I know that I must miss their smile ;22
That voice, which sooth’d so oft before,23
I feel that it shall sooth no more.24
The bliss that thou couldst stilll bestow,25
If yet again my breast may know,26
Still, equal bliss bestow’d again27
Requites me not for present pain ;28
The kindest heart beneath the sun29
Can charm no more than thou hast done,30
Nor e’er so true an after-vow31
Repay the pang of parting now.32