To Miss Porden

Adieu

To say Adieu excites a tear,
When from a friend we sever,
Hard ’tis to part if harrowing fear
Whispers we part for ever.
Still hope will shed a softer gleam
To dry the drop of sorrow,
Again to meet, will sweeter seem
Than joys that wealth can borrow.

Long absent from the friend we love,
If providence permitting,
Again our friendship we can prove
Then each sad grief forgetting.
We feel a joy steal o’er the soul,
While friendship’s call obeying,
That seems with merciful control
Our worst of woes repaying.

T.

May 7th 1816