Poor, loft Alonzo! Fate's neglected child!

Mild be the doom of Heav'n-as thou wert mild!

For oh! thy heart in holy mould was cast,

And all thy deeds were blameless, but the last.

370

Poor, loft Alonzo! ftill I feem to hear

The clod that ftruck thy hollow-founding bier!

When Friendship paid, in fpeechlefs forrow drown'd,

Thy midnight rites, but not on hallow'd ground!

Cease, every joy, to glimmer on my mind,

375

But leave-oh! leave the light of Hope behind!

What though my winged hours of blifs have been,

Like angel-vifits, few, and far between !

Her mufing mood fhall every pang appease,

And charm-when pleafures lofe the power to pleafe! 380

Yes! let each rapture, dear to Nature, flee;

Close not the light of Fortune's ftormy fea—

Mirth, Mufic, Friendship, Love's propitious smile,

Chase every care, and charm a little while,

Ecftatic throbs the fluttering heart employ,

385

And all her ftrings are harmoniz'd to Joy !—

But why fo fhort is Love's delighted hour?

Why fades the dew on Beauty's sweetest flow'r?
Why can no hymned charm of Music heal

The fleepless woes impaffion'd fpirits feel?

Can Fancy's fairy hands no veil create,

To hide the fad realities of fate?—

No! not the quaint remark, the fapient rule, Nor all the pride of Wisdom's worldly school,

390

Have pow'r to foothe, unaided and alone,
The heart that vibrates to a feeling tone!
When stepdame Nature every blifs recals,

Fleet as the meteor o'er the defert falls

When, 'reft of all, yon widow'd fire

A lonely hermit in the vale of years;

;

appears

Say, can the world one joyous thought bestow
To Friendship, weeping at the couch of Woe?
No! but a brighter foothes the last adieu,—
Souls of impaffion'd mould, fhe fpeaks to you!
Weep not, she says, at Nature's tranfient pain,
Congenial fpirits part to meet again !-

What plaintive fobs thy filial spirit drew, What forrow chok'd thy long and last adieu,

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400

405

Daughter of Conrad! when he heard his knell,

And bade his country and his child farewell!
Doom'd the long ifles of Sydney Cove to fee,
The martyr of his crimes, but true to thee.
Thrice the fad father tore thee from his heart,
And thrice return'd, to bless thee, and to part;
Thrice from his trembling lips he murmur'd low

The plaint that own'd unutterable woe ;

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415

Till Faith, prevailing o'er his fullen doom,

As bursts the morn on night's unfathom❜d gloom,
Lur'd his dim eye to deathlefs hopes fublime,

Beyond the realms of Nature and of Time!

"And weep not thus, (he cried) young Ellenore!

My bofom bleeds, but foon fhall bleed no more!

420

Short fhall this half-extinguifh'd fpirit burn,
And foon thefe limbs to kindred duft return!
But not, my child, with life's precarious fire,

The immortal ties of Nature fhall expire;

These shall refift the triumph of decay,

When time is o'er, and worlds have pafs'd away!

425

Cold in the duft this perish'd heart may lie,

But that which warm'd it once fhall never die !

430

That spark unburied in its mortal frame,

With living light, eternal, and the fame,

Shall beam on Joy's interminable years,

Unveil'd by darknefs-unaffuag'd by tears!

"Yet, on the barren fhore and ftormy deep, One tedious watch is Conrad doom'd to weep;

435

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