Sir Henry De Vaux came across the sea, <br />To visit his native clime; <br />A face like an angel of light had he, <br />But his heart was sear'd by crime. <br />He stood on his castle tow'r to gaze <br />O'er the scenes which he long had left, <br />And a thought came o'er him of happier days, <br />Ere his heart was of hope bereft. <br />The stream flow'd through that peaceful vale, <br />The birds sang to a cloudless sky, <br />And the calm around, and the soft fresh gale, <br />But encreased his agony. <br />A tear then fell from his dark proud eye, <br />A tear of remorse and regret; <br />'My will is a law,' he cried, 'then why <br />Cannot I learn to forget?' <br />'I have fought when the desperate sight ran high, <br />And the plain was dyed with blood; <br />I have sail'd when danger and death were nigh,' <br />But unmov'd, unappall'd, I stood. <br />I have drank of pleasure the fatal draught, <br />I have given to passion the rein; <br />With the scoffer I've scoff'd, with the infidel laugh'd, <br />And reason has warn'd me in vain. <br />Oh, the pain that I feel hath such deadly force, <br />That it strikes thro' my burning brain; <br />'Tis the pain of the soul-despair-remorse- <br />There is none can endure such pain. <br />'Tis the voice of an angry God that cries, <br />Till it harrows the mind within; <br />'Tis the worm of the heart that never dies, <br />'Tis the memory of sin.'<br /><br />Lady Caroline Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sir-henry-de-vaux/
