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ODE TO DESPAIR.
ODE TO DESPAIR.
FROM THE NOVEL OF EMMELINE.
THOU spectre of terrific mien!
Lord of the hopeless heart and hollow eye,
In whose fierce train each form is seen
That drives sick Reason to insanity!
I woo thee with unusual prayer,
"Grim-visaged, comfortless Despair!"
Approach—in me a willing victim find,
Who seeks thine iron sway—and calls thee kind!
Ah! hide for ever from my sight
The faithless flatterer Hope—whose pencil, gay,
Pourtrays some vision of delight,
Then bids the fairy tablet fade away;
While in dire contrast to mine eyes
Thy phantoms, yet more hideous, rise,
