Doomed, as I am, in solitude to waste <br />The present moments, and regret the past, <br />Deprived of every joy I valued most, <br />My friend torn from me, and my mistress lost, <br />Call not this gloom I wear, this anxious mien, <br />The dull effect of humor, or of spleen! <br />Still, still I mourn, with each returning day, <br />Him snatch'd by fate in early youth away; <br />And her -- thro' tedious years of doubt and pain, <br />Fix'd in her choice, and faithful -- but in vain! <br />O prone to pity, generous, and sincere, <br />Whose eye ne'er yet refus'd the wretch a tear; <br />Whose heart the real claim of friendship knows <br />Nor thinks a lover's are but fancied woes; <br />See me -- ere yet my destin'd course half done, <br />Cast forth a wand'rer on a world unknown! <br />See me neglected on the world's rude coast, <br />Each dear companion of my voyage lost! <br />Nor ask why clouds of sorrow shade my brow, <br />And ready tears wait only leave to flow! <br />Why all that soothes a heart from anguish free <br />All that delights the happy -- palls with me!<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lines-on-the-death-of-sir-william-russel/
