Seared in heart, and lone, and blighted, 60 EPISTLE TO AUGUSTA I My sister! my sweet sister! if a name A loved regret which I would not resign. The first were nothing II had I still the last, It were the haven of my happiness; And mine is not the wish to make them less. 15 III If my inheritance of storms hath been I have sustained my share of worldly shocks My errors with defensive paradox; IV Mine were my faults, and mine be their reward, 20 25 And thought of shaking off my bonds of clay: But now I fain would for a time survive, 30 V Kingdoms and empires in my little day And when I look on this, the petty spray Of my own years of trouble, which have rolled does still uphold Something VI Perhaps the workings of defiance stir Within me or perhaps of cold despair, Brought on when ills habitually recur, Perhaps a kinder clime, or purer air, 35 40 (For even to this may change of soul refer, 45 VII I feel almost at times as I have felt In happy childhood; trees, and flowers, and brooks, 50 Which do remember me of where I dwelt Ere my young mind was sacrificed to books, Come as of yore upon me, and can melt My heart with recognition of their looks; And even at moments I could think I see 55 Some living thing to love, but none like thee. VIII Here are the Alpine landscapes which create Is a brief feeling of a trivial date; But something worthier do such scenes inspire. 60 Here to be lonely is not desolate, For much I view which I could most desire, And, above all, a lake I can behold Lovelier, not dearer, than our own of old. IX 65 - but I grow O that thou wert but with me! Has lost its praise in this but one regret; I am not of the plaintive mood, and yet I feel an ebb in my philosophy, 70 X I did remind thee of our own dear Lake, By the old Hall which may be mine no more. Leman's is fair; but think not I forsake 75 The sweet remembrance of a dearer shore; Sad havoc Time must with my memory make, Though, like all things which I have loved, they are So XI The world is all before me; I but ask Of Nature that with which she will comply It is but in her summer's sun to bask, 85 To mingle with the quiet of her sky, To see her gentle face without a mask, And never gaze on it with apathy. She was my early friend, and now shall be XII I can reduce all feelings but this one; And that I would not; for at length I see XIII With false Ambition what had I to do? Little with Love, and least of all with Fame; And yet they came unsought, and with me grew, And made me all which they can make 90 95 a name. 100 Yet this was not the end I did pursue; XIV And for the future, this world's future may 105 IIO XV And for the remnant which may be to come Not thankless, Of struggles, happiness at times would steal, That with all this I still can look around, XVI For thee, my own sweet sister, in thy heart I am, even as thou art Beings who ne'er each other can resign; It is the same, together or apart, From life's commencement to its slow decline We are intwined let death come slow or fast, The tie which bound the first endures the last! -- 115 120 125 |