On Disappointment

Come, Disappointment, come!Not in thy terrors clad:Come, in thy meekest, saddest guise;Thy chastening rod but terrifiesThe restless and the bad.But I reclineBeneath thy shrine,And round my brow resign'd thy peaceful cypress twine.

Though Fancy flies awayBefore thy hollow tread,Yet Meditation, in her cell,Hears with faint eye the lingering knellThat tells her hopes are dead;And though the tearBy chance appear,Yet she can smile, and say, My all was not laid here.

Come, Disappointment, come!Though from Hope's summit hurl'd,Still, rigid Nurse, thou art forgiven,For thou severe wert sent from heavenTo wean me from the world;To turn my eyeFrom vanity,And point to scenes of bliss that never, never die.

What is this passing scene?A peevish April day!A little sun--a little rain,And then night sweeps along the plain.And all things fade away.Man (soon discuss'd)Yields up his trust,And all his hopes and fears lie with him in the dust.

Oh, what is Beauty's power?It flourishes and dies;Will the cold earth its silence break,To tell how soft, how smooth a cheekBeneath its surface lies?Mute, mute is allO'er Beauty's fall;Her praise resounds no more when mantled in her pall.

The most beloved on earthNot long survives to-day;So music past is obsolete,And yet 'twas sweet, 'twas passing sweet,But now 'tis gone away.Thus does the shadeIn memory fade,When in forsaken tomb the form beloved is laid.

Then since this world is vain,And volatile, and fleet,Why should I lay up earthly joys,Where rust corrupts, and moth destroys,And cares and sorrows eat?Why fly from illWith anxious skill,When soon this hand will freeze, this throbbing heart be still.

Come, Disappointment, come!Thou art not stern to me;Sad Monitress! I own thy sway,A votary sad in early day,I bend my knee to thee.From sun to sunMy race will run,I only bow, and say, My God, thy will be done!

I dream no more--the vision flies away,And Disappointment....There fell my hopes--I lost my all in this,My cherish'd all of visionary bliss.Now hope farewell, farewell all joys below;Now welcome sorrow, and now welcome woe.Plunge me in glooms....