On parting

The kiss, dear maid, thy lip has left,

Shall never part from mine,

Till happier hours restore the gift

Untainted back to thine.

Thy parting glance, which fondly beams,

An equal love, may see;

That tear that from thine eyelid streams

Can weep no change in me.

I ask no pledge to make me blest

In gazing when alone;

Nor one memorial for a breast

Whose thoughts are all thine own.

Nor need I write - to tell the tale

My pen were doubly weak:

Oh! What can idle words avail,

Unless the heart could speak?

By day or night, in weal or woe,

That heart, no longer free,

Must bear the love it cannot show,

And silent ache for thee.