PARTING WORDS.
Although my early dream is o’er,
I ask no parting token;
Nor would I clasp thy hand before
My last farewell is spoken.
How coldly fair, thy thrice-false face
Dawns on my sad awaking;
No anguish there mine eyes can trace,
Though this fond heart is breaking.
Be as thou wert before we met;
Heave not one sigh, but leave me;
Those studied looks, that feigned regret,
Can nevermore deceive me.
The faltering tones that mock me so,
Betray the fears that move thee;
Cease to degrade thy manhood.—Go!
I scorn thee while I love thee.
Shall I forget the rapturous hours
Of my too radiant morning—
The hand that culled the dewy flowers
My girlish brow adorning?
Ah, no! for she who scorns thee now,
Will miss its dear caresses;
And sorrow to remember how
It decks another’s tresses.
Alas! this tortured soul of mine,
Though by thy treason riven,
Can never cast thee from its shrine
Unwept, or unforgiven.
Nay, I, when youth and hope depart,
The mournful willow wearing,
Must still deplore that shallow heart
That was not worth the sharing.
And have I sold my peace for this?
Or am I only dreaming?
To wake beneath thy thrilling kiss
From this most cruel seeming.
Oh, bid my fainting heart rejoice;
One word would make it stronger;
Then wherefore mute, thou magic voice?
Say, am I loved no longer?
The world thou hast deceived so long
May smile on thee to-morrow;
While I alone must bear the wrong,
The bitterness and sorrow!
O cruel world! O world unjust!
That passes by unheeding,
Where love betrayed and blasted trust
Low in the dust lies bleeding!
Go thou thy way; deceive it still!
(Its praise is false and hollow);
Ascend to fortune’s loftiest hill,
No ban of mine shall follow.
The memory of these days will be
To me a life’s regretting.
Most faithless lover! what to thee?—
Only an hour’s coquetting.
Shame, shame! to look, to breathe, to live,
To mock my loving madness!
The thought alone that I forgive,
Should fill thy soul with sadness.
No wonder heaven should strike thee blind,
To see me bowed before thee;
Most shameless wretch of all mankind
How, how could I adore thee?
In haste to go! Oh, cruel one!
Stay, stay, a moment only!
How shall I face, when thou art gone,
The world, so vast, so lonely?
Thy words are like my passing knell:
Ah me, and must we sever?
Forget that I have loved thee well—
Adieu! adieu for ever!
Printed and Published by W. & R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh.
All rights reserved.
[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.
Page 799: arsensic to arsenic—“testing for arsenic”.]