Poems (Campbell)/The Adieu

For works with similar titles, see The Adieu.

THE ADIEU.

Adieu each fair and blooming scene,
For Delia's feeble feet no more
Shall press your turf's delightful green,
Nor ramble by the winding shore.

Ye fragrant blossoms, never more
Shall I inhale your sweet perfume,
Nor wander at pale ev'ning's Lour
Enjoying nature's solemn gloom.

Nor at the peep of early dawn
Shall brush the dew-drops from the spray;
Nor loiter through yon flow'ry lawn,
Nor through the grove nor forest stray—

As when this form was wont to rove
In sprightly health, and void of pain;
When gayer blossoms deck'd each grove,
And fresher verdure strew'd the plain!

But now with listless eye I see
The Spring and all her charms return;
In vain the Spring returns to me
That weak with pain and sickness mourn.

I've lov'd to mark with wond'ring eyes
The forked lightning's vivid flash;
To watch the howling tempest rise,
And hear the whelming billows dash.

The awful grandeur of the storm,
The morning's blush, the ev'ning's gloom,
Shall wake no more this languid form,
That soon shall press an early tomb.

Adieu! ye haunts of peace and joy,
Where once so carelessly I stray'd,
My tranquil moments to employ,
In yonder grove's sequester'd shade.

But sullen now, and cheerless all,
Is ev'ry object that I see;
Nor can their loveliest charms recall
The parted joys of health to me.

For in the cold and silent tomb
Soon, soon shall Delia's form be laid;
Unheedful there of vernal bloom,
Of summer sun, and winter shade;

And there, by all the world forgot,
In peace my mould'ring form shall rest;
Though scarce a tear bedew the spot
Where lies the green turf on my breast.