but a step; you shall have them, however, but please to bear situation and circumstances in mind. I was alone on the deck on a beautiful moon-shining night, when the poetical afflatus seized me. Whatever the character of the poetry may be, these lines are faithfully indicative of my feelings, and of the communion which subsists between my head and heart:—
I gaze on the moon—I gaze on the moon—
As at home I have gazed of yore;
But the change of scene, and the space between,
Make me feel the same pleasure no more.
For it brings to mind the land of my birth,
And it painfully brings to mind
My solitude here, and the friends so dear,
For ever perhaps left behind.
And it brings to mind, oh! it brings to mind,
Happy hours that are now gone by;
The blush and the smile, as I gazed the while
On the light of a soft blue eye.
And it makes me feel, oh! it makes me feel,
The loss of those earlier years;
When hearts are so light, and hope is so bright,
And nothing but pleasure appears.
Then the moon looks lone, and I feel as lone,
How could it otherwise be?
There's nothing on high, but a starless sky,
And here there's nothing but sea.
And that passing cloud, and that passing cloud,
Whose gloom as it low'rs, I now mark,
Is the transient shade which sorrow has made,
When the prospect around looks dark.
