To ......., 1801.

To be the theme of every hour     The heart devotes to Fancy's power,     When her prompt magic fills the mind     With friends and joys we've left behind,     And joys return and friends are near,     And all are welcomed with a tear:--     In the mind's purest seat to dwell,     To be remembered oft and well     By one whose heart, though vain and wild,     By passion led, by youth beguiled,     Can proudly still aspire to be     All that may yet win smiles from thee:--     If thus to live in every part     Of a lone, weary wanderer's heart;     If thus to be its sole employ     Can give thee one faint gleam of joy,     Believe it. Mary,--oh! believe     A tongue that never can deceive,     Though, erring, it too oft betray     Even more than Love should dare to say,--     In Pleasure's dream or Sorrow's hour,     In crowded hall or lonely bower,     The business of my life shall be,     For ever to remember thee.     And though that heart be dead to mine,     Since Love is life and wakes not thine,     I'll take thy image, as the form     Of one whom Love had failed to warm,     Which, though it yield no answering thrill,     Is not less dear, is worshipt still--     I'll take it, wheresoe'er I stray,     The bright, cold burden of my way.     To keep this semblance fresh in bloom,     My heart shall be its lasting tomb,     And Memory, with embalming care,     Shall keep it fresh and fadeless there.