XVIII. On a Cornelian Heart which was broken. 1. ILL-FATED heart! and can it be That thou shouldst thus be rent in twain! Have years of care for thine and thee Alike been all employed in vain ? 2. Yet precious seems each shatter'd part, A fitter emblem of his own. XIX. [This poem and the following were written some years ago.] To a Youthful Friend. 1. Few years have pass'd since thou and I Were firmest friends, at least in name, And childhood's gay sincerity Preserv'd our feelings long the same. 2. But now, like me, too well thou know'st What trifles oft the heart recall ; And those who once have lov'd the most 3. And such the change the heart displays, 4. If so, it never shall be mine To mourn the loss of such a heart; The fault was Nature's fault not thine, Which made thee fickle as thou art. 5. As rolls the ocean's changing tide, So human feelings ebb and flow; And who would in a breast confide Where stormy passions ever glow? 6. It boots not, that together bred, My spring of life has quickly fled; Thou, too, hast ceas'd to be a boy. 7. And when we bid adieu to youth, Slaves to the specious world's controul, We sigh a long farewell to truth; That world corrupts the noblest soul. 8. Ah, joyous season! when the mind Dares all things boldly but to lie; When thought ere spoke is unconfin'd, And sparkles in the placid eye. 9. Not so in Man's maturer years, When interest sways our hopes and fears, 10. With fools in kindred vice the same, We learn at length our faults to blend, And those, and those alone may claim The prostituted name of friend. 11. Such is the common lot of man: Can we then 'scape from folly free? Can we reverse the general plan, Nor be what all in turn must be? 12. No, for myself so dark my fate Through every turn of life hath been; Man and the world I so much hate, 13. But thou, with spirit frail and light, 14. Alas! whenever folly calls Where parasites and princes meet, (For cherish'd first in royal halls, The welcome vices kindly greet) 15. Ev'n now thou'rt nightly seen to add And still thy trifling heart is glad, R |