Poems (Campbell)/To Lady Hamley, Bodmin, Cornwall
TO LADY HAMLEY; BODMIN, CORNWALL.
Ah! wherefore is this starting tear? Back, lucid wand'rer! back again;—When love, and joy, and hope are near This grief is idle, selfish, vain.
Say, is it that my friend is bless'd In all that faithful love bestows,That sighs of sorrow swell my breast, And the big tear unbidden flows?
Ah! no,—but I have cause to grieve; A dear, and early valued friend,Too soon her native isle must leave, Far, far from hence her way to bend.
But I will dash the tear away, And tune my harp to strains of joy;Care must not cloud this happy day, Nor selfish grief thy bliss annoy.
Oh! may my pray'rs to Heav'n ascend, And bring life's choicest treasures downOn thee and thine, my early friend! And all your days with pleasure crown.
And in your Hamley's happy home May love, and peace, and pleasure dwell;There may the social virtues come, And ev'ry lurking ill repel.
For sure I am, thy choice must be, My friend, the worthiest and the best!Or he had ne'er been lov'd by thee, Had ne'er thy feeling heart possess'd.
And as the brightest gift of God, He'll cherish thee with tend'rest love,Make easy all life's thorny road, And grief's complaining pangs remove.
You go—again the tear-drops glide, And sighs my lab'ring bosom swell;Oh! how shall I my sorrows hide! Or how pronounce the word—farewell!
Yet, fare ye well!—for part we must— Eternal joy your bosoms share!Oh! may the Muse not vainly trust That Heav'n propituous hears the pray'r!