William Baxter The Lament (1841)

 

T H E   L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
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CINCINNATI, FEBRUARY, 1841.

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O r i g i n a l .
T H E   L A M E N T.*
Addressed to a lady who asked, "Have you written any poetry
since you came on the boat?"
AH, no! the muse disdains this place--
    She never strays where I sojourn;
I mourn the hidings of her face,
    And fear she will no more return.

She loves to dwell 'mid fields and flowers,
    And rove among the forest trees;
Or sit in some vine-covered bower,
    And listen to the sighing breeze.

Oft times she seeks the mountain's brow,
    Or summit of some verdant hill,
To list unto the murmur low,
    Of some remote, meandering rill.

Yet woman's voice can break the spell,
    And bid me strike the harp so free,
And bid its flowing numbers swell,
    In tones of sweetest minstrelsy.

And beauty's power can move my heart,
    And bid me sing my sweetest lays--
All other thoughts it bids depart,
    Or stay and list to beauty's praise.

My heart is sad--too sad to sing
    The song of wild and harmless mirth;
For sorrow, with its serpent sting,
    Embitters all the joys of earth.

Of sorrow's cup I still must drink,
    Although but in life's early bloom;
I fain would pass away, and sink
    Unknown into an early tomb.
WILLIAM BAXTER,      
Steamboat Montezuma.
* The author of these lines is in his extreme youth, and was
employed, until recently, on one of our steamboats. He has been
at school, since his recollection, about six months. This and
some beautiful lines on Miss Landon, in our next number, will
awaken a deep interest in his behalf.

 

[The Ladies' Repository 1 (February 1841): 53.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "The Lament" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 1, No. 2, February 1841, p. 53. This volume, edited by L. L. Hamline, was published in Cincinnati by J. F. Wright and L. Swormstedt for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 29 March 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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