O! DARK IS THE GLOOM.
O! dark is the gloom o'er my young spirit stealing!
Then why should I linger where others are gay?
The smile, that I wear, is but worn for concealing
A heart, that is wasting in sadness away!
Then why should I linger where others are gay?
The smile, that I wear, is but worn for concealing
A heart, that is wasting in sadness away!
How oft have I thought, when the last light has faded
From off the clear waves of some soft-flowing stream,
That, like its bright waters, my last hopes were shaded
By darkness, uncheered by the light of a beam.
From off the clear waves of some soft-flowing stream,
That, like its bright waters, my last hopes were shaded
By darkness, uncheered by the light of a beam.
O! could I but fly from this false world for ever,
Where those whom I trust are the first to betray,
From the cold, and the fickle, my young heart I 'd sever,
Ere they steal all its bloom and its sweetness away.
Where those whom I trust are the first to betray,
From the cold, and the fickle, my young heart I 'd sever,
Ere they steal all its bloom and its sweetness away.
I 'd seek, in some orb of the blessed above me,
The peace, that on earth I can never receive;
The spirits, that dwell in that bright orb, would love me,
For they are too gentle to wound or deceive.
The peace, that on earth I can never receive;
The spirits, that dwell in that bright orb, would love me,
For they are too gentle to wound or deceive.
O! why should the hearts of the purest be shaken,
While calmly reposing 'neath love's sunny beam?
If they slumber so sweetly why should they awaken
To muse on the past, and to weep o'er a dream?
While calmly reposing 'neath love's sunny beam?
If they slumber so sweetly why should they awaken
To muse on the past, and to weep o'er a dream?
