Absence

Ah! he is gone- and I alone!--
How dark and dreary seems the time!
Tis thus, when the glad sun is flown,
Night rushes o'er the Indian clime.

Is there no star to cheer this night?
No soothing twilight for the breast?
Yes, Memory sheds her fairy light,
Pleasing as sunset's golden west--

And hope of dawn--oh! brighter far
Than clouds that in the orient burn;
More welcome than the morning star
Is the dear thought --he will return!

The Keepsake, 1830.