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ON THE EVE OF DEPARTURE From O

1 LOUD beats the rain! The hollow groan
2 Of rushing winds I hear,
3 That with a deep and sullen moan,
4 Pass slowly by the ear.
5 Soon will my dying fire refuse
6 To yield a cheerful ray,
7 Yet, shivering still I sit and muse
8 The latest spark away.
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9 Ah, what a night! the chilly air
10 Bids comfort hence depart,
11 While sad repining's clammy wings
12 Cling icy to my heart.
13 To-morrow's dawn may fair arise,
14 And lovely to the view;
15 The sun with radiance gild the skies,
16 Yet then I say adieu!
17 Oh, stay, dear Night, with cautious care,
18 And lingering footsteps move,
19 Though day may be more soft and fair,
20 Not her, but thee, I love.
21 Stay, wild in brow, severe in mien,
22 Stay! and ward off the foe;
23 Who, unrelenting smiles serene,
24 Yet tells me I must go.
25 Forsake these hospitable halls,
26 Where Truth and Friendship dwell,
27 To these high towers and ancient walls,
28 Pronounce a long farewell.
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29 Alas! will Time's rapacious hand,
30 These golden days restore?
31 Or will he suffer me to taste
32 These golden days no more?
33 Will he permit that here again,
34 I turn my willing feet?
35 That my glad eyes may here again,
36 The look of kindness meet?
37 That here I ever may behold,
38 Felicity to dwell,
39 And often have the painful task
40 Of sighing out farewell?
41 Ah, be it so! my fears I lose,
42 By hope's sweet visions fed;
43 And as I fly to seek repose,
44 She flutters round my bed.
             Nov. 17, 1796.

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Title (in Source Edition): ON THE EVE OF DEPARTURE From O —
Themes:
Genres: ode

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Source edition

Betham, Mary Matilda, 1776-1852. Elegies and Other Small Poems, by Matilda Betham. Ipswich: Printed by W. Burrell, and sold by Longman, Paternoster-Row, and Jermyn and Forster, Ipswich, 1797, pp. [88]-90.  (ESTC T143264)

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