Who saw (though I never complain'd)
My heart was too sick for relief.

'One, who always attentive and dear,
Every effort exerted to please,
My desolate prospect to cheer,
To study my health and my ease.

'For his was each toil and each care,
The due observations to keep;
To sit watching amid the night air,
And fancy his father asleep.

'Yet, dejected, and sadly forlorn,
I dar'd in my heart to repine,--
To lament that I ever was born,
Though such worth and affection were mine.

'Alas! I was destin'd to know,
However intense my despair,
I still was reserv'd for a blow,
More painful and cruel to bear.

'Yes! this only one fell in the main!
--I eagerly struggled to save;
But I strove with the current in vain,
And saw him sink under the wave!

'My head was astounded and wild,--
Incessant I roam'd on the shore,