THE GENTLE LOOK

Thou gentle Look, that didst my soul beguile,

　Why hast thou left me? Still in some fond dream

Revisit my sad heart, auspicious Smile!

　As falls on closing flowers the lunar beam:

What time, in sickly mood, at parting day

　I lay me down and think of happier years;

Of joys, that glimmer'd in Hope's twilight ray,

　Then left me darkling in a vale of tears.

O pleasant days of Hope—for ever gone!

　Could I recall you!—But that thought is vain.

Availeth not Persuasion's sweetest tone

　To lure the fleet-wing'd Travellers back again:

Yet fair, tho' faint, their images shall gleam

Like the bright Rainbow on a willowy stream.

?1793