Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/104
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Gazed on thy opening beam with joyous eyeUndimm'd by guilt and grief! when her full soulFelt thy mild radiance, and the rising dayWaked but to pleasure! on thy sea-girt vergeOft, England! have my evening steps stole on,Oft have mine eyes surveyed the blue expanse,And mark'd the wild wind swell the ruffled surge,And seen the upheaved billows' bosomed rageRush on the rock; and then my timid soulShrunk at the perils of the boundless deep,And heaved a sigh for suffering mariners.Ah! little deeming I myself was doom'dTo tempt the perils of the boundless deep,An Outcast—unbeloved and unbewail'd.
Why stern Remembrance! must thine iron handHarrow my soul? why calls thy cruel powerThe fields of England to my exil'd eyes,The joys which once were mine? even now I see