Poem by Thomas Campbell

Lines on Leaving the River Cart

O SCENES of my childhood, and dear to my heart,
Ye green-waving woods on the banks of the Cart!
How oft in the morning of life I have strayed
By the stream of the vale and the grass-covered glade!
Then, then, every rapture was young and sincere,
Ere the sunshine of life had been dimmed by a tear;
And a sweeter delight every scene seemed to lend —
That the mansion of peace was the home of a friend.

Now the scenes of my childhood, and dear to my heart,
All pensive I visit, and sigh to depart,
Their flowers seem to languish, their beauty to cease,
For a stranger inhabits the mansion of peace!
But hushed be the sigh that untimely complains
While friendship with all its enchantment remains —
While it blooms like the flower of a winterless clime,
Untainted by change, unabated by time!

1. Lines on the Camp Hill, near Hastings
2. Napoleon and the British Sailor
3. The Exile of Erin
4. Gilderoy
5. O’Connor’s Child; Or, the Flower of Love Lies Bleeding

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