Page:Maria, or, The wanderer reclaim'd.pdf/24

Rh She ſaw her lover pale and wan:

Her lover now no more;

And threat’ning were his haggard looks:

Death’s frightful mein he wore.

She heard a voice, or thought ſhe heard,

As death-bell’s ſolemn knell,

“From coaſts of black deſpair I come,

“Where horrors ever dwell:—

“I haſte (he ſaid) unto the ſhades:

“A ſhort abrupt adieu!

“To-morrow you ſhall be with me,”—

Then vaniſh’d from her view.

She wakes— ſhe ſtarts— and thrice ſhe call’d

Aloud on C name:

Repoſe her weary eyes forſook,

Cold tremors ſeiz’d her frame.

Still in her cars, thro’ the long night,

The diſmal accents rung:

Pale was the maid when morning dawn’d

And fault’ring was her tongue.

As ſnow before the ſcorching ſun,

Her wafting ſpirits ſail’d;

Her friends aſſembling round her bed,

Her hapleſs end bewail’d.

She dies— her heart now ceaſ’d to beat,

The purple tide to flow;

They ſtretch’d her out a breathleſs corpſe,

In ſad and ſilent woe.

Ye who frequent the play and ball,

Each gay and thoughtleſs fair!

Attend to S mornful tale,

And of her fate beware!