Goldfinch (1)/Fly from the World

THE

GOLDFINCH.

Fly from the World.

Fly from the world, oh Bessy! to me,
Thou'lt never find any sincerer,
I'll give up the world, oh Bessy! to thee,
I can never meet any that's dearer!
Then tell me no more with a tear and a sigh,
That our loves shall be censured by many;
All have their follies, and who will deny
That ours is the sweetest of any?

When your lip has met mine in abandonment sweet
Have we felt as if virtue forbid it?
Have we felt as if Heaven denied them to meet
No, rather ‘twas Heaven that did it!
So innocent, love, is the pleasure we sip,
So little of guilt is there in it,
That I wish all my errors were lodg'd on your lip,
And I'd kiss them away in a minute!

Then come to your lover, oh! fly to his shed,
From a world which I know thou despisest,
And slumber will hover as light on our bed,
As e‘er on the couch of the wisest;
And when o‘er our pillow the tempest is driven,
And thou pretty innocent fearest,
I‘ll tell thee it is not the chiding of heaven,
‘Tis only our lulliby dearest!

And oh! when we lie on our death-bed, my love,
Looking back to the scene of our errors,
A sigh from my Bessy shall plead then above
And death be disarm'd of his terrors!
And each to the other embracing will say,
Farewell! let us hope we‘re forgiven,
Thy last fading glance will illumin’ the way,
And a kiss be our passport to heaven!