J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

1821.
ORIGINAL POEMS. 333
Then tliy first smile in heaven was seen
To hail the birth of love di\ine,
And ever since that smile hath been
The sainted passion's hallowed shrine :
Can lover yet behold thy beam
Unmoved, unpassioned, unrefined ?
"While there thou shin'st the brightest gem,
To Night's cerulean crown assigned.
Since then, how many gentle eyes
That love and thy pure ray made bright,
Have gazed on thee with blissful sighs —
Now veiled in everlasting night !
Oh, let not love or youth be vain
Of present bliss, and hope more high ;
The stars — the very clods remain —
Love, they, and all of theirs must die !
Now throned upon the western wave,
Thou tremblest coyly, star of love !
And dip'st beneath its gleamy heave
Thy silver foot, the bath to prove.
And though no power thy course may stay,
Which nature's changeless laws compel.
To thee a thousand hearts shall say —
Sweet star of love, farewell, farewell !
MY NATIVE BAY.
My native bay is calm and bright.
As e'er it was of yore.
When, in the days of hope and love,
I stood upon its shore ;
The sky is glowing, soft and blue.
As once in youth it smiled,
When summer seas and summer skies
Were always bright and mQd.
The sky — how oft hath darkness dwelt
Since then upon its breast ;
The sea — how oft have tempests woke
Its billows from their rest !
So oft hath darker wo come o'er
Calm self-enjoying thought ;
And passion's storm a wilder scene
Within my bosom wrought.