Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Harp of Renfrewshire

221
With a rapture of heart, and devotion of soul,
I'd look to the heavens above ;
And I'd praise the great Author and Guide of the whole,
Whose only existence is love.
With a mind thus estrang'd from the cares of the world,
How happy and blest would I be !
Where the dark brow of envy had never yet curl'd,
And contentment reign'd sov'reignly free.
I would envy no man, from the peer to the clown,
And I'd treat the gay fop with disdain ;
I would laugh at the tyrant by freedom puU'd down,
And his fall, though inglorious, would give me no pain.
But ah, expectation, what art thou ? at best
A shadow, — a light fleeting breath ;
For dire disappointment hangs over thy crest,
And its gleam is the meteor of death.
I've hunted thee, fortune, long imder a mask,
But now thou'rt unmask'd unto me ;
Fain would I, disgusted, relinquish the task,
For a life independent and free.