REMEMBER ME. REMEMBER me, when summer friends surround thee, And honied flatteries gain thy willing ear; When fame and fortune's glittering wreaths have crowned thee, And all is thine, thy fickle heart holds dear,— Then think of her whose changeless fortunes blessed thee, When hope was dark, and faithful friends were few, Who, when hard griping poverty depressed thee, And all beside seemed cold, was kind and true. Remember me, in courtly hall and bower, And when thou kneelest at some fond beauty's shrine, Ask of the past, if through life's varying hour, Its joys and griefs, her love can equal mine! And when thy youthful hopes are most excited, Should she prove false, and break her faith like thee, Think of the hopes thy wayward love hath blighted, And from that lesson learn to feel for me! Remember me, and oh! when fate hath 'reft thee, Of fame and fortune, friends and love, and bliss, Come back to one thou knowest would ne'er have left thee, And she'll but chide thy falsehood with a kiss! 320 REMEMBER ME. Remember me! thou canst not sure refuse me, When I have 'scaped life's dark tumultuous sea; NIL DESPERANDUM. YES, I am rich in all excuse to mourn And restless energies that stir to dare, Thou shalt not conquer me, dark-blooded fiend Despair! Though the last canvass of my hope be furled, Full many a galley, at worse random cast, The tempest hushed and all its perils past Has moored its weary keel on shores of peace at last. OH! yet one smile, though dark may lour Around thee clouds of woe and ill, Let me yet feel that I have power, Though sadness be upon thy brow, I cannot bear that thou should'st know True love's wreath is of mountain flowers, They stand the storm and brave the blast, And blossom on, so love like ours Is sweetest when all else is past. Too well I know what storms have frowned, Then say not that you may not bear, CONSTANCY. OH! say not love was never made Must love then seek the cypress shade, Oh! say not, that for me more meet Or that my wild heart cannot beat Though mirth may many changes ring, Light smiles upon my lip may gleam 'Tis love that gilds the mirthful hour, ROMANCE. OH! come to my slumber I have hung the charmed wreath The roses are linked In a chain pure and white; The moon was on high SONGS. The Spirit of Slumber Be their spell on my soul, Let sleep bring the image I have hung the charmed wreath INCONSTANCY. How vain to cast my love away The floweret's bloom, that springs in May, To build my fondest hopes upon, That flower's smile is not sooner gone Love asks a calm, a gentle home, If once you let its pinions roam, 323 |