Poems (Campbell)/The Adieu
For works with similar titles, see The Adieu.
THE ADIEU.
Adieu each fair and blooming scene, For Delia's feeble feet no moreShall press your turf's delightful green, Nor ramble by the winding shore.
Ye fragrant blossoms, never more Shall I inhale your sweet perfume,Nor wander at pale ev'ning's Lour Enjoying nature's solemn gloom.
Nor at the peep of early dawn Shall brush the dew-drops from the spray;Nor loiter through yon flow'ry lawn, Nor through the grove nor forest stray—
As when this form was wont to rove In sprightly health, and void of pain;When gayer blossoms deck'd each grove, And fresher verdure strew'd the plain!
But now with listless eye I see The Spring and all her charms return;In vain the Spring returns to me That weak with pain and sickness mourn.
I've lov'd to mark with wond'ring eyes The forked lightning's vivid flash;To watch the howling tempest rise, And hear the whelming billows dash.
The awful grandeur of the storm, The morning's blush, the ev'ning's gloom,Shall wake no more this languid form, That soon shall press an early tomb.
Adieu! ye haunts of peace and joy, Where once so carelessly I stray'd,My tranquil moments to employ, In yonder grove's sequester'd shade.
But sullen now, and cheerless all, Is ev'ry object that I see;Nor can their loveliest charms recall The parted joys of health to me.
For in the cold and silent tomb Soon, soon shall Delia's form be laid;Unheedful there of vernal bloom, Of summer sun, and winter shade;
And there, by all the world forgot, In peace my mould'ring form shall rest;Though scarce a tear bedew the spot Where lies the green turf on my breast.