William Baxter Loneliness (1843)

 

T H E   L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
------------------------

CINCINNATI, DECEMBER, 1843.

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O r i g i n a l .
L O N E L I N E S S .

MY heart is sad and lonely now,
    Its early dreams are fled--
The flowers of hope, which bloom'd so fair,
    Alas, have withered!
'The waves of grief have o'er me pass'd,
And even hope has fled at last.

The sunny hours that erst were wont
    To cheer my drooping heart--
The smiles of friends--I've seen them all,
    Like visions fair, depart,
And I, as one arous'd from sleep,
For each bright phantom wake and weep.

The eye that flash'd in years gone by,
    Is dimm'd by sorrow's tears--
The heart that once beat joyously,
    Is sadden'd now with fears.
Past--past are all my visions bright--
This is the heart's dark, starless night.

Ah! could I but recall the hours,
    The scenes, the joys of youth,
And know again the pure delight
    Of friendship's changeless truth,
And hear again that soft sweet tone,
Sacred to friendship's power alone!

But I am friendless--grief and woe
    Have my companions been--
My heart yearns for a purer clime--
    A calmer, holier scene--
Where my lone heart, so sad and chill,
Again with rapture sweet may thrill.

My heart is sad! The bitter thought
    I gladly would repress;
But memory will often wake
    It from its loneliness,
And bring to mind those blissful hours
When life's bright path seem'd strewn with flowers.
W. BAXTER.      

 

[The Ladies' Repository 3 (December 1843): 356.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "Loneliness" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 3, No. 12, December 1843, p. 356. 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 2 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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