2. That yielding breast, that melting eye, Too much invited to be blest: That gentle prayer, that pleading sigh, 3. Oh! let me feel that all I lost, But saved thee all that conscience fears; And blush for every pang it cost To spare the vain remorse of years. 4. Yet think of this when many a tongue, Whose busy accents whisper blame, Would do the heart that loved thee wrong, And brand a nearly blighted name. 5. Think that, whate'er to others, thou Hast seen each selfish thought subdued: I bless thy purer soul even now, Even now, in midnight solitude. 6. Oh, God! that we had met in time, Our hearts as fond, thy hand more free; When thou had'st loved without a crime, And I been less unworthy thee! 7. Far may thy days, as heretofore, From this our gaudy world be past! And, that too bitter moment o'er, Oh! may such trial be thy last! 8. This heart, alas! perverted long, Itself destroyed might there destroy; To meet thee in the glittering throng, Would wake Presumption's hope of joy. 9. Then to the things whose bliss or woe, Like mine, is wild and worthless all, That world resign-such scenes forego, Where those who feel must surely fall. 10. Thy youth, thy charms, thy tenderness, From what even here hath past, may guess What there thy bosom must endure. 11. Oh! pardon that imploring tear, Since not by Virtue shed in vain, My frenzy drew from eyes so dear; 12. Though long and mournful must it be, The thought that we no more may meet; Yet I deserve the stern decree, And almost deem the sentence sweet. 13. Still, had I loved thee less, my heart Had then less sacrificed to thine; It felt not half so much to part, As if its guilt had made thee mine. |
