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MEMORY

Painful blessing – soothing sorrow,
To-day my bliss – my pang, to-morro,
Enchanting ill – exhausted pleasure,
Whose relentive records treasure,
Fleeting shadows, long since pass’d
Of joys too exquisite to last,
Sensations pure, and thoughts refin’d,
With all the extasies of mind,
Sweet ideas fondly wove
By youthful fancy, joy and love;
Scenes o’er which retention grieves,
O’er which the heart too fondly lives,
Hours more prized than ages flown;
Which to some happy few are known;
Playful groupes and smiling mirth,
To which gay youth and joy gave birth;
These, though dear, you still enhance,
Viewed through thy retrospective glance;
These thy blessings know I well,
Thy pangs I feel, but cannot tell.

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