Page:The West Indies, and Other Poems.djvu/170

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

158

O Thou, who wert on earth unknown,
Companion of my thought alone,
Unchanged in heaven to me thou art,
Still hold communion with my heart;
Cheer thou my hopes, exalt my views,
Be the good angel of my Muse;
—And if to thine approving ear
My plaintive numbers once were dear;
If, falling round thy dying hours,
Like evening dews on closing flowers,
They sooth'd thy pains, and through thy soul
With melancholy sweetness stole,
HEAR ME:———When slumber from mine eyes,
That roll in irksome darkness, flies;
When the lorn spectre of unrest
At conscious midnight haunts my breast;
When former joys and present woes,
And future fears are all my foes;
Spirit of my departed friend!
Calm through the troubled gloom descend,