J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

1821.
ORIGINAL POEMS.
Some friendly hand the tribute gave,
To mark the imdistinguished grave,
That, drooping o'er that sod, it might
Repay a world's neglectful scorn.
And catching sorrow from the night,
There weep a thousand tears at mom.
It was an emblem of himself,
A mateless, solitary thing.
To which no circKng season might
An hour of greener gladness biing ;
A churchyard desert was its doom.
Its parent soil a darkling tomb ;
Such was the Solitary's fate,
So joyless and so desolate ;
For, blasted soon as it was given.
His was the life that knew no hope,
His was the heart that knew no heaven :
Then, stranger, by one pitpng drop
Forgive, forgive the ^Misanthrope !
TO THE EVENING STAR.
Soft star of eve, whose trembling light
Gleams through the closing eye of day.
Where clouds of dying purple bright
Melt in the shades of eve away.
And mock thee with a fitful ray.
Pure spirit of the twilight hour.
Till forth thou blazest to display
The splendour of thy native power.
'Twas thus, when earth from chaos sprung,
The smoke of forming worlds arose,
And, o'er thine infant beauty hung.
Hid thee awhile in dark repose ;
Till the black veil dissolved away.
Drunk by the universal air.
And thou, sweet star, ^-ith lovely ray.
Shone out on paradise so fair.
When the first eve the world had known
Fell blissfully on Eden's bowers,
And earth's first love lay couched upon
The dew of Eden's faii'est flowers ;