Nay ;—ask not for a mirthful air,—
I ne’er will sing of joy again ;
Dejected—driven to despair—
As I for ever must remain ;
Nor bid me tell of happier days,
When hope was young, and life look’d sweet ;
When all my light was pleasure’s blaze,
And joys were smiling at my feet.
But let me sing of wounded peace, —
A mind by passion’s conflict torn,—
Of lost content, — of ruin’d ease,
And hopes that died as soon as born,—
Of fancy’s self-destroying dreams, —
Of disappointment’s fatal dart, —
These, and these only, are the themes
That suit a woe-worn broken heart.
That heart is sick with hope deferr’d ;—
Its dreams are false—its prospects vain—
And friendship’s voice is never heard,
To calm my wilder’d fev’rish brain.
Despair within my bosom preys ;—
You see not—but I feel the smart :
Like Ætna’s wild internal blaze,
It silently consumes my heart.
Sometimes reflection’s lurid beam
Will dart like madness o’er my mind ;
And, as a baleful meteor stream
To show the dreadful wreck behind.
And sometimes hope’s delusive light
Will, for an instant, o’er me roll,
And with its sunshine-ray make bright
Even the darkness of my soul.
But soon of joy I lose the trace :—
That beam allow’d me but to see
The cavity—the dreadful space—
That lies between my peace and me.
Then go ; and follow pleasure’s course ;
And leave me to my tears and sighs,
And to the torture of remorse
That ever-dying never dies.
(Mary Anne Browne)
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Based on Topics: Light Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, War & Peace Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Youth Poems, Dreams Poems, Hope Poems, Brain Poems, Disappointment PoemsBased on Keywords: woe-worn, space-, despair-, deferr, born-, tna, self-destroying, false-, ever-dying, torn-