LINES.
How many a time I've bent mine ear,
To catch thy low and fainting breath;
And trembled lest thy soul had fled,
Unnoticed, to the realms of death.
To catch thy low and fainting breath;
And trembled lest thy soul had fled,
Unnoticed, to the realms of death.
My Mother! thou wilt die, and leave.
The world, with life and grief, to me;
Oh would the human branch might fade,
When sever'd from its parent tree!
The world, with life and grief, to me;
Oh would the human branch might fade,
When sever'd from its parent tree!
I do adore thee! such my first
Fond, broken lisping did proclaim;
And all I suffer now but proves
My shrine and homage still the same.
Fond, broken lisping did proclaim;
And all I suffer now but proves
My shrine and homage still the same.
Time, that will alter breast and brow
So strangely that we know them not;
That sponges out all trace of truth,
Or darkens it with many a blot;
So strangely that we know them not;
That sponges out all trace of truth,
Or darkens it with many a blot;
In me hath wrought its changes too,
Alike in bosom, lip, and brain;
And taught me much, much that, alas!
Is learnt but in the school of Pain.
Alike in bosom, lip, and brain;
And taught me much, much that, alas!
Is learnt but in the school of Pain.
I'm strangely warp'd from what I was,
For some few years, in Life's fresh morn;
When Thought, scarce link'd with Reason's chain,
Nor dared to question, doubt, or scorn.
For some few years, in Life's fresh morn;
When Thought, scarce link'd with Reason's chain,
Nor dared to question, doubt, or scorn.
Though young in years, I've learnt to look
With trustless eye on all and each;
And shudder that I find so oft,
The coldest heart with gentlest speech.
With trustless eye on all and each;
And shudder that I find so oft,
The coldest heart with gentlest speech.
110
