[Page 27]

TO A WANDERING HUSBAND, FROM A DESERTED WIFE.

1 Say, where is that charming repose
2 That so lately illumin'd my breast,
3 Like the sun that so chearfully shone,
4 And at eve sooth'd me kindly to rest?
5 Alas! it no longer is mine,
6 No more on my morning it beams;
7 Despair now possesses its place,
8 And presides even over my dreams.
9 Why did my fond credulous heart
10 Give delusion such easy belief;
11 Why listen with rapture to vows
12 Now forgot, and devote me to grief?
13 Alas! whensoe'er I attempt
14 A respite from anguish to find,
15 From the world and its scorn I retire,
16 Still, still it adheres to my mind;
17 The admonishing spirit within
18 Thy conscience must whisper, beware!
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19 Haste — restore a fond wife to delight,
20 A mother preserve from despair.
21 The soft southern gale as it blows,
22 Appears with my sorrows to mourn;
23 Gentle echo with pity replies,
24 "Mary's peace ne'er again can return."
25 Tho' religion's meek aid I implore,
26 Yet the softest ideas afire;
27 And this heart, tho' disdain'd, still adores
28 What my reason no longer can prize.
29 But alas! could the error be mine?
30 Say, could it e'er spring from my mind,
31 When so fondly thou often hast said,
32 Mary's bosom is chaste and refin'd?
33 Still triumph — my wrongs are unknown;
34 Oh! torture be hush'd, be represt;
35 To be pitied I yet am too proud,
36 And thy fame is still dear to my breast;
37 Ever dear! yet be warn'd by my love;
38 Retribution's bright morning will rise,
39 And those wrongs, unremember'd by thee,
40 Some angel will waft to the skies.
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41 Farewel to each blessing below,
42 My moments to care I resign;
43 Though I die, may thy pleasure increase!
44 Thy Mary will never repine:
45 To the grave thy fond wife will retire,
46 It will shelter — will yield her repose;
47 Its coldness will chill her warm heart,
48 Free thee — and her sorrows compose.

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Title (in Source Edition): TO A WANDERING HUSBAND, FROM A DESERTED WIFE.
Author: Isabella Kelly (née Fordyce)
Themes:
Genres: address

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Kelly, Isabella, 1759-1857. Collection of Poems and Fables on Several Occasions. London: W. Richardson, 1794, pp. 27-29. 72p. (ESTC T122123) (Page images digitized from a copy at the British Library.)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Isabella Kelly (née Fordyce)