AMIDST the bitter tears that fell In anguish at my last farewell, Oh! who would dream that joy could dwell, To make that moment bright! Yet be my judge, each heart! and say, Which then could most my bosom sway, Affliction or delight? It was, when Hope, opprest with woes, Seemed her dim eyes in death to close, That Rapture's brightest beam arose In sorrow's darkest night. Thus, if my soul survive that hour, 'Tis that my fate o'ercame the power Of anguish with delight. For oh! her love, so long unknown, She @3then@1 confest was all my own, And in that parting hour alone Revealed it to my sight. And now what pangs will rend my soul, Should fortune still, with stern control, Forbid me this delight! I know not if my bliss were vain, For all the force of parting pain Forbade suspicious doubts to reign, When exiled from her sight: Yet now what double woe for me, Just at the close of eve, to see The dayspring of delight! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PROSIT NEUJAHR by GEORGE SANTAYANA BABY'S SHOES by WILLIAM COX BENNETT AGAINST HOPE by ABRAHAM COWLEY THE LITTLE PEACH by EUGENE FIELD EARLY RISING by JOHN GODFREY SAXE IN THE GOLD ROOM by OSCAR WILDE |