by A.G.
Originally published in Fraser's Magazine (James Fraser) vol.2 #11 (Dec 1830).
Then away! then away! I have listened too long
To the music of laughter, the echo of song;
To the notes which endear us to life, and to love,
Which follow our footsteps wherever we rove.
I have listened to these, I have lingered awhile,
But the sigh at departure has banished the smile;
And the whispered regret in the distance is hushed,
And the hope I then cherished, is finally crushed.
I watched, as the shore was diminishing fast,
The flutter of sails, and the creak of the mast,
The dash of the billow, the howl of the wind,
And I yearned for the hearts I left beating behind!
I thought of my father, and mother so old,
And I thought of their babe, with his ringlets of gold;
But mostly of Her who had twined round my heart,
The spell of a dream that can never depart!
No longer an exile, I flew to my home,
I spied the tall cliff o'er the breaker's white foam;
And I fancied I saw on the precipice' height,
The small beckoning hand, and the smile of delight.
The ship neared her port, and I spurned the last wave:
I asked for my father—they showed me his grave;
My mother lay by him—my sister was wed—
Our cottage a stranger's—my brother was dead!
I looked at my sister, and questioned in fear—
But the only reply was a sorrowful tear:
Her virtue was marred by the tongue of deceit,
And the flower had withered, deprived of its sweet.
I was born on the cliff, I was bred on the shore—
Of the world I know little, I'll see it no more:
I'll return to the tempest, the breaker, the wind,
And I'll mourn not the home I am leaving behind.