Elegiac Stanzas. Supposed To Be Written By Julia, On The Death Of Her Brother.

Though sorrow long has worn my heart;         Though every day I've, counted o'er     Hath brought a new and, quickening smart         To wounds that rankled fresh before;     Though in my earliest life bereft         Of tender links by nature tied;     Though hope deceived, and pleasure left;         Though friends betrayed and foes belied;     I still had hopes--for hope will stay         After the sunset of delight;     So like the star which ushers day,         We scarce can think it heralds night!--     I hoped that, after all its strife,         My weary heart at length should rest.     And, feinting from the waves of life,         Find harbor in a brother's breast.     That brother's breast was warm with truth,         Was bright with honor's purest ray;     He was the dearest, gentlest youth--         Ah, why then was he torn away?     He should have stayed, have lingered here         To soothe his Julia's every woe;     He should have chased each bitter tear,         And not have caused those tears to flow.     We saw within his soul expand         The fruits of genius, nurst by taste;     While Science, with a fostering hand,         Upon his brow her chaplet placed.     We saw, by bright degrees, his mind         Grow rich in all that makes men dear;     Enlightened, social, and refined,         In friendship firm, in love sincere.     Such was the youth we loved so well,         And such the hopes that fate denied;--     We loved, but ah! could scarcely tell         How deep, how dearly, till he died!     Close as the fondest links could strain,         Twined with my very heart he grew;     And by that fate which breaks the chain,         The heart is almost broken too.