Why look'd I on that fatal line?
 Why did I pray that page to see?
Too well I knew no word of thine
 Was fraught with aught but pain to me.
I should have known, I should have thought
 The fleeting hope would soon decay!
So oft the gleam of joy it brought
 Has only shone to pass away.
Thy hand had traced the words I read;
 And in that dream I wandered on?
Forgot their cherish'd spell was fled,
 Thy vows no more?thy fondness gone.
I lived whole years of joy again
 I dwelt on each recorded vow;
Oh! tender was their meaning then?
 Alas! they have no meaning now!