THE worst of tortures fate can find
To lacerate the feeling mind,
And rob the soul of rest,
Is, when its adverse laws ordain,
That Separation’s heart-felt pain
Should agonize the breast!
Oh! ’tis an anguish too severe
For even Hope to soothe or cheer,
Tho’ deck’d in radiance bright;
For, like dense vapours which arise,
And cast a gloom upon the skies,
It soon obscures her light!
Its torturing pangs, alas! are found
More poignant than the keenest wound
That venom’d darts can send;
For fortitude can suffer pain,
But, oh! to part, and not again
Rejoin a much-lov’d friend,
Corrodes, as well as pains, the heart,
Makes ev’ry nerve with anguish smart,
And ev’ry bliss destroys;
Remembrance, with officious zeal,
Increases ev’ry pang we feel,
Recurring to past joys.
And oft, amidst the gloom of night,
It brings Louisa to my sight,
Then leaves me to deplore;
In ev’ry dream I likewise see
Some tender proof of love to me,
And, waking ,–feel ’tis o’er.
Ah! no, though distance may divide,
Affection still may be her guide;
Still, like the needle, true,
Her thoughts will turn towards that pole
Which seem’d to guide her chasten’d soul,
Though not within her view.
And Mem’ry’s pencil oft shall paint,
In colours neither cold nor faint,
The portrait of a friend!
On whom, through ev’ry scene of life,
Whether of pleasure, pain, or strife ,
She firmly may depend!
Then, why should Separation’s pow’r
Impress with gloom each future hour,
Why ev’ry bliss destroy?
Still our united thoughts shall greet,
And, though divided, they shall meet,
And thus partake of joy.
(Mary Hopkins Pilkington)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Life Poems, Night Poems, Light Poems, Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Soul Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Friendship Poems, Pain PoemsBased on Keywords: much-lov, agonize, corrodes, lacerate