Again my friends with sorrowing heart
I see you from your Chest depart
With tears lament my hapless doom
For months to rest in cheerless gloom
Yet as a favoured bard declares
Hope brightest dawns through streaming tears
E’en now the cheering ray I see
Which shines refulgent, shines on me
It tells me yonder glorious sun
Who now his radiant course has run
And bathes his tresses in the main
Will soon resplendant rise again
Says when a polar night is o’er
That I like him shall rise once more
Once more behold around me close
A circle gay of belles and beaux
While all with cheerful look appear
And many a pleasing poem bear
Whose sprightly wit, or sense sublime
May scorn the ravages of time
And to posterity proclaim
Their tuneful genius, and my name
But should this pleasing prospect fail
Should “Hope but tell a flattering tale”
And I no more around your Chest
Impatience in your looks expressed
Shall see you watch your Classic Box
Till Ellen’s hand my store unlocks
Still I may hope in grief or glee
Your thoughts may sometimes turn to me
While memory give to every jest
A sprightlier turn a keener zest
And as your kindling fancy warms
Arrays my form with lovelier charms