Ah, me! till sunk by sorrow, I shall dwell I shall retrace his footsteps in the sand; Would I had perished ere that hapless day More mournful then each falling surge I heard ; Then dropt the stagnant tear upon my beard. Methought the wild waves said, amidst their roar At midnight," Thou shalt see thy son no more! Now thrice twelve moons through the mid heavens And many a dawn, and slow night, have I told; But never more, emerging from the main, I see the stranger's bark approach again. Has the fell storm o'erwhelmed him? Has its sweep The cold limbs of my brave, my beauteous child? Oh! I shall never, never hear his voice: The spring time shall return, the isles rejoice; But faint and weary I shall meet the morn, And 'mid the cheering sunshine droop forlorn! The joyous conch sounds in the high wood loud, O'er all the beach now stream the busy crowd; Fresh breezes stir the waving plantain grove; The fisher carols in the windy cove; And light canoes along the lucid tide, With painted shells and sparkling paddles glide. Heartless, and cry for thee, my Son, my Son. FATHERLESS FANNY. BY MRS. OPIE. KEEN and cold is the blast loudly whistling around, As cold as the lips that once smiled upon me, And unyielding, alas! as this hard frozen ground, The arms once so ready my shelter to be. Both my parents are dead, and few friends I can boast, But few to console and to love me, if any, And my gains are so small, a bare pittance almost Repays the exertions of fatherless Fanny. Once, indeed, I with pleasure and patience could toil, But 't was when my parents sat by and approved; Then my laces to sell I went out with a smile, Because my fatigue fed the parents I loved. And at night when I brought them my hardly earned gains, Though small they might be, still my comforts For were many; my mother's fond blessing rewarded my pains, My father stood watching to welcome his Fanny. |