Then Be It So, and Let Us Part

Then be it so and let us part,
Since love like mine has fail'd to move thee;
But do not think this constant heart
Can ever cease, ingrate, to love thee.
No—spite of all thy cold disdain,
I'll bless the hour when first I met thee,
And rather bear whole years of pain
Than e'en for one short hour forget thee.
                                               Forget thee! No.

Still Mem'ry now my only friend,
Shall with her soothing art endeavour
My present anguish to suspend,
By painting pleasures lost for ever.
She shall the happy hours renew.
When full of hope and smiles I met thee,
And little thought the day to view
When thou wouldst wish me to forget thee.
                                               Forget thee! No.

Yet, have I liv'd to view that day,
To mourn my past destructive blindness,
To see now turn'd with scorn away
Those eyes once fill'd with answering kindness.
But go—farewell and be thou blest,
If thoughts of what I feel will let thee:
Yet, though thy Image kills my rest,
'Twere greater anguish to forget thee.
                                               Forget thee! No.