Hope was but a timing friend;
She sat without the grated den,
Watching how my fate would tent,
Even as selfish-hearted men.
Are was cruel in her fear;
Trought the bars, one dreary day,
I looked out to see her there,
And she turned her face away!
Like a false guard, fals watch keeping,
Still, in strife, she whispered peace;
She would sing while I was weeping,
If I listened, she woould 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 my frenzied pain,
Stretched her wings, and soared to heaven,
Went, and ne'er returned again!