Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Sidmouth

To a Lady, on Leaving Her at Sidmouth

By George Crabbe (1754–1832)

YES! I must go,—it is a part

That cruel Fortune has assigned me,—

Must go, and leave, with aching heart,

What most that heart adores behind me.

Still I shall see thee on the sand

Till o’er the space the water rises,

Still shall in thought behind thee stand,

And watch the look affection prizes.

But ah! what youth attends thy side,

With eyes that speak his soul’s devotion,—

To thee as constant as the tide

That gives the restless wave its motion?

Still in thy train must he appear

Forever gazing, smiling, talking?

Ah! would that he were sighing here,

And I were there beside thee walking!

Wilt thou to him that arm resign,

Who is to that dear heart a stranger,

And with those matchless looks of thine

The peace of this poor youth endanger?

Away this fear that fancy makes

When night and death’s dull image hide thee:

In sleep, to thee my mind awakes;

Awake, it sleeps to all beside thee.

Who could in absence bear the pain

Of all this fierce and jealous feeling,

But for the hope to meet again,

And see those smiles all sorrow healing?

Then shall we meet, and, heart to heart,

Lament that fate such friends should sever,

And I shall say, “We must not part”;

And thou wilt answer, “Never, never!”