Oh, happy Eden! where I roam'd of yore
In that sweet ignorance I long for now,
Not childish innocence of fruited bough,
For I had bit my apple to the core:

But when the golden fruit seem'd doubly sweet
(Unlike the tempter of a bygone day),
A serpent came, and bade me fling away
What once he bade those first poor lovers eat.

Oh, had I never bent that magic bough
And tasted all the sweetness that it bore,
My heart had been as careless as before,
And all these bitter tears unfalling now!

Oh, curse the cruel hand that pointed where
My golden apple had its bitter flaw,
And curse the cruel eye that smiled and saw
My best illusions melting into air!

But garden—garden where I used to rove,
I bless thy orange groves and sunny sky,
I bless thy feath'ry palm-trees tow'ring high,
That overshadow'd what seem'd then my love!

"One struggle more," and I am free 
From pangs that rend my heart in twain; 
One last long sigh to love and thee, 
Then back to busy life again. 
It suits me well to mingle now 
With things that never pleased before: 
Though every joy is fled below, 
What future grief can touch me more? 

Then bring me wine, the banquet bring; 
Man was not form'd to live alone: 
I'll be that light, unmeaning thing 
That smiles with all, and weeps with none. 
It was not thus in days more dear, 
It never would have been, but thou 
Hast fled, and left me lonely here; 
Thou'rt nothing, — all are nothing now. 

In vain my lyre would lightly breathe! 
The smile that sorrow fain would wear 
But mocks the woe that lurks beneath, 
Like roses o'er a sepulchre. 
Though gay companions o'er the bowl 
Dispel awhile the sense of ill; 
Though pleasure fires the maddening soul, 
The heart — the heart is lonely still! 

On many a lone and lovely night 
It sooth'd to gaze upon the sky; 
For then I deem'd the heavenly light 
Shone sweetly on thy pensive eye: 
And oft I thought at Cynthia's noon, 
When sailing o'er the Aegean wave, 
"Now Thyrza gazes on that moon —"
Alas, it gleam'd upon her grave! 

When stretch'd on fever's sleepless bed, 
And sickness shrunk my throbbing veins, 
"'T is comfort still," I faintly said,
"That Thyrza cannot know my pains:" 
Like freedom to the time-worn slave, 
A boon 't is idle then to give, 
Relenting Nature vainly gave 
My life, when Thyrza ceased to live! 

My Thyrza's pledge in better days, 
When love and life alike were new! 
How different now thou meet'st my gaze! 
How tinged by time with sorrow's hue! 
The heart that gave itself with thee 
Is silent — ah, were mine as still! 
Though cold as e'en the dead can be, 
It feels, it sickens with the chill. 

Thou bitter pledge! thou mournful token! 
Though painful, welcome to my breast! 
Still, still, preserve that love unbroken, 
Or break the heart to which thou'rt press'd! 
Time tempers love, but not removes, 
More hallow'd when its hope is fled: 
Oh! what are thousand living loves 
To that which cannot quit the dead?