Hope

Hope was but a timid friend-

She sat without my grated den

Watching how my fate would tend

Even as selfish-hearted men.

She was cruel in her fear.

Through the bars, one dreary day,

I looked out to see her there

And she turned her face away!

Like a false guard false watch keeping

Still in strife she whispered peace;

She would sing while I was weeping,

If I listened, she would cease.

False she was, and unrelenting.

When my last joys strewed the ground

Even sorrow saw repenting

Those sad relics scattered round;

Hope - whose whisper would have given

Balm to all that frenzied pain -

Stretched her wings and soared to heaven;

Went- and ne'er returned again!