ALWIN and RENA.
Ask you, why round yon hallow’d grave
The myrtle and the laurel bloom?
There sleep the lovely and the brave;
O shed a tear upon their tomb!
“Oh! cease, my love, these vain alarms!”
—For war prepar’d, young Alwin said—
“For I must quit my Rena’s arms;
My bleeding country asks my aid!”
“Yes, I will check this bursting sigh;
Yes, I will check these flowing tears:
A smile shall brighten in my eye;
My bosom shall dispel its fears!”
“You try indeed, to force a smile,
Yet Sorrow’s drops bedew your cheek;
You speak of peace—yet, ah! the while,
Your sighs will scarcely let you speak!”
“Go, Alwin!—Rena bids thee go;
She bids thee seek the fields of Death:
Go, Alwin, rush amid the foe;
Go, and return with Vict’ry’s wreath!”
A thrilling blast the trumpet blew;
The milk-white courser paw’d the ground:
A mix’d delight young Alwin knew;
While Rena shudder’d at the sound—
Yet strove to check the rising fears,
Which now with double fury swell;
And, faintly smiling thro’ her tears,
She falter’d out a long farewel!
Three tedious moons, with chearless ray,
Had vainly gilt the face of Night;
Nor yet the hero took his way,
To bless his drooping Rena’s sight!
At length, thro’ Rena’s fav’rite grove,
When now the fourth her radiance shed,
He came—and Vict’ry’s wreath was wove---
But, ah!—around a lifeless head!
Distracted at the blasting sight,
To yonder tall cliffs bending brow,
With beating breasts she urg’d her flight,
And would have sought the waves below!
But while, with steady gaze, she view’d
The foaming billows, void of fear,
Religion at her right-hand stood,
And whisper’d to her soul, “Forbear!”
And now the storm of grief was o’er;
Yet Melancholy’s weeping eye
Distill’d the slow and silent show’r,
Nor ceas’d—till Life’s own springs were dry!
For this, around yon hallow’d grave,
The myrtle and the laurel bloom:
There sleep the lovely, and the brave;
O! shed a tear upon their tomb!
Possible source: European Magazine and London Review, vol. 16 (September 1789).
NEW-YORK: Printed by JOHN TIEBOUT, No. 358, Pearl-Street, for THOMAS BURLING, Jun. & Co. Subscriptions for this Magazine (at 6s. per quarter) are taken in at the Printing-Office, and at the Circulating Library of Mr. J. FELLOWS, No. 60, Wall-Street.