Caroline - Rhymes Written in Albums

To win, beloved Caroline from thee, One thought, in years when we shall sever'd be-- --Sever'd, perchance, by those deep waves, which pour Their billowy murmurs round our native shore,-- For this, I wander'd round the Bow'rs of Song, A weary, and rejected suppliant long, And of the Muses crav'd in humblest tone From their rich wreaths, one simple bud alone: They did but fling their wildest weeds at me, And thus I twin'd them into verse for thee! Oh! voiceless is the raptur'd feeling Which passeth o'er me as I view, The vesper-planet softly stealing, Through heav'n's delightful depths of blue. It comes in such sweet beauty beaming When dark'ning shadows gather round, That ever dear its gentle gleaming To sad, or lonely hearts is found. The crimson light which late was flushing The Western wave, hath vanish'd then; And ev'ning's silent spell is hushing The murmurs, and the thoughts of men. The hues, the freshness floating o'er us In earlier hours have died away; And cheeringly the path before us Is brighten'd by that silvery ray. 'Tis thus, when life's delicious morning On rapid wing hath fleeted by, And each fair flow'r we view'd adorning Our once gay path, droops witheringly. When ev'ry tint which Joy was lending, We see, by Sorrow touch'd, expire, And ev'n seraphic Hope is bending In mournful silence o'er her lyre. Star of the soul, serenely tender, Through darkness Mem'ry rises then, Sheds o'er the past her dreamy splendour And all we lov'd revives again!