Away, Away, Ye Notes of Woe!

Away, away, ye notes of Woe!

Be silent, thou once soothing Strain,

Or I must flee from hence--for, oh!

I dare not trust those sounds again.

To me they speak of brighter days--

But lull the chords, for now, alas!

I must not think, I may not gaze,

On what I _am_--on what I _was_.

The voice that made those sounds more sweet

Is hushed, and all their charms are fled;

And now their softest notes repeat

A dirge, an anthem o'er the dead!

Yes, Thyrza! yes, they breathe of thee,

Belovéd dust! since dust thou art;

And all that once was Harmony

Is worse than discord to my heart!

'Tis silent all!--but on my ear

The well remembered Echoes thrill;

I hear a voice I would not hear,

A voice that now might well be still:

Yet oft my doubting Soul 'twill shake;

Ev'n Slumber owns its gentle tone,

Till Consciousness will vainly wake

To listen, though the dream be flown.

Sweet Thyrza! waking as in sleep,

Thou art but now a lovely dream;

A Star that trembled o'er the deep,

Then turned from earth its tender beam.

But he who through Life's dreary way

Must pass, when Heaven is veiled in wrath,

Will long lament the vanished ray

That scattered gladness o'er his path.