Page:Poems - Lewis (1812).djvu/106

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POEMS.


My tyrant Husband forged the tale,
Which chains me in this dismal cell:
My fate unknown my Friends bewail;
Oh! Gaoler, haste that fate to tell!
Oh! haste my Father's heart to chear:
His heart at once 'twill grieve and glad
To know, though kept a Captive here,
I am not mad! I am not mad!

He smiles in scorn, and turns the key!
He quits the Grate! I knelt in vain!—
His glimmering Lamp still. . . .still I see!—
'Tis gone. . . .and all is gloom again!
Cold, bitter cold!—no warmth! no light!—
Life, all thy comforts once I had;
Yet here I'm chained this freezing night,
Although not mad! No, no! not mad!

'Tis sure some dream! some vision vain!—
What? I, the Child of rank and wealth,
Am I the wretch, who clanks this chain,
Bereft of freedom, friends and health?
Ah! while I dwell on blessings fled,
Which never more my heart must glad,
How aches my heart! how burns my head!—
But 'tis not mad!—no!—'Tis not mad!