The Adieu. Written Under the Impression that the Author Would Soon Die

1. 1Adieu, thou Hill! where early joy
2. 2Spread roses o'er my brow;
3. 3Where Science seeks each loitering boy
4. 4With knowledge to endow.
5. 5Adieu, my youthful friends or foes,
6. 6Partners of former bliss or woes;
7. 7No more through Ida's paths we stray;
8. 8Soon must I share the gloomy cell,
9. 9Whose ever-slumbering inmates dwell
10. 10Unconscious of the day.

1. 11Adieu, ye hoary Regal Fanes,
2. 12Ye spires of Granta's vale,
3. 13Where Learning robed in sable reigns.
4. 14And Melancholy pale.
5. 15Ye comrades of the jovial hour,
6. 16Ye tenants of the classic bower,
7. 17On Cama's verdant margin plac'd,
8. 18Adieu! while memory still is mine,
9. 19For offerings on Oblivion's shrine,
10. 20These scenes must be effac'd.

1. 21Adieu, ye mountains of the clime
2. 22Where grew my youthful years;
3. 23Where Loch na Garr in snows sublime
4. 24His giant summit rears.
5. 25Why did my childhood wander forth
6. 26From you, ye regions of the North,
7. 27With sons of Pride to roam?
8. 28Why did I quit my Highland cave,
9. 29Marr's dusky heath, and Dee's clear wave,
10. 30To seek a Sotheron home?

1. 31Hall of my Sires! a long farewell--
2. 32Yet why to thee adieu?
3. 33Thy vaults will echo back my knell,
4. 34Thy towers my tomb will view:
5. 35The faltering tongue which sung thy fall,
6. 36And former glories of thy Hall,
7. 37Forgets its wonted simple note--
8. 38But yet the Lyre retains the strings,
9. 39And sometimes, on Æolian wings,
10. 40In dying strains may float.

1. 41Fields, which surround yon rustic cot,
2. 42While yet I linger here,
3. 43Adieu! you are not now forgot,
4. 44To retrospection dear.
5. 45Streamlet! along whose rippling surge
6. 46My youthful limbs were wont to urge,
7. 47At noontide heat, their pliant course;
8. 48Plunging with ardour from the shore,
9. 49Thy springs will lave these limbs no more,
10. 50Deprived of active force.

1. 51And shall I here forget the scene,
2. 52Still nearest to my breast?
3. 53Rocks rise and rivers roll between
4. 54The spot which passion blest;
5. 55Yet Mary, all thy beauties seem
6. 56Fresh as in Love's bewitching dream,
7. 57To me in smiles display'd;
8. 58Till slow disease resigns his prey
9. 59To Death, the parent of decay,
10. 60Thine image cannot fade.

1. 61And thou, my Friend! whose gentle love
2. 62Yet thrills my bosom's chords,
3. 63How much thy friendship was above
4. 64Description's power of words!
5. 65Still near my breast thy gift I wear
6. 66Which sparkled once with Feeling's tear,
7. 67Of Love the pure, the sacred gem:
8. 68Our souls were equal, and our lot
9. 69In that dear moment quite forgot;
10. 70Let Pride alone condemn!

1. 71All, all is dark and cheerless now!
2. 72No smile of Love's deceit
3. 73Can warm my veins with wonted glow,
4. 74Can bid Life's pulses beat:
5. 75Not e'en the hope of future fame
6. 76Can wake my faint, exhausted frame,
7. 77Or crown with fancied wreaths my head.
8. 78Mine is a short inglorious race,--
9. 79To humble in the dust my face,
10. 80And mingle with the dead.

1. 81Oh Fame! thou goddess of my heart;
2. 82On him who gains thy praise,
3. 83Pointless must fall the Spectre's dart,
4. 84Consumed in Glory's blaze;
5. 85But me she beckons from the earth,
6. 86My name obscure, unmark'd my birth,
7. 87My life a short and vulgar dream:
8. 88Lost in the dull, ignoble crowd,
9. 89My hopes recline within a shroud,
10. 90My fate is Lethe's stream.

1. 91When I repose beneath the sod,
2. 92Unheeded in the clay,
3. 93Where once my playful footsteps trod,
4. 94Where now my head must lay,
5. 95The meed of Pity will be shed
6. 96In dew-drops o'er my narrow bed,
7. 97By nightly skies, and storms alone;
8. 98No mortal eye will deign to steep
9. 99With tears the dark sepulchral deep
10. 100Which hides a name unknown.

1. 101Forget this world, my restless sprite,
2. 102Turn, turn thy thoughts to Heaven:
3. 103There must thou soon direct thy flight,
4. 104If errors are forgiven.
5. 105To bigots and to sects unknown,
6. 106Bow down beneath the Almighty's Throne;
7. 107To Him address thy trembling prayer:
8. 108He, who is merciful and just,
9. 109Will not reject a child of dust,
10. 110Although His meanest care.

1. 111Father of Light! to Thee I call;
2. 112My soul is dark within:
3. 113Thou who canst mark the sparrow's fall,
4. 114Avert the death of sin.
5. 115Thou, who canst guide the wandering star
6. 116Who calm'st the elemental war,
7. 117Whose mantle is yon boundless sky,
8. 118My thoughts, my words, my crimes forgive;
9. 119And, since I soon must cease to live,
10. 120Instruct me how to die.