Part II

'OLD CADWAL here distraught I seek—
'Ah me! this wayward heart!
'That dar'd oppose a father's pow'r,
'That dar'd his counsel thwart!

'But EMMA's charms had won my love,
'And made it all her own;
'I sought not copious flocks and meads,
'I sought Content alone.

'And oh! so sweetly she conform'd
'To all I wish'd or said,
'You would have sworn our hearts, as twins,
'Were for each other made.

'And was it, holy father, say,
'Was it a crime to love,
'Or to my early-plighted vows
'Unchang'd and steady prove?

'MATILDA'S lofty friends in store
'Of riches did abound,
'And ample sheaves enrich'd their meads,
'And orchards rose around;

'And those possessions, ev'ry hour,
'Were pour'd into mine ear,
'To count them o'er my father made
'His morn and ev'ning care.

'Sure, if he any sailing had,
'Twas too fond love for me,
'Hence sprang the wish that of her fields
'I should the master be:

'And as he wish'd, and as he bade,
'O! that I could have done!
'But EMMA'S charms had won my love,
'And made it all her own.

'Say, father, ought I in the church
'Have join'd MATILDA'S hand,
'When love and truth, that should attend,
'Were not at my command?

'Her spacious granaries—to me
'They no allurement were;
'My EMMA's low-roof'd dairy-hut
'To me was dearer far.

'Why after large possessions seek?
'My father knew no want;
'Of copious tributes from the field
'His barns were nothing scant.

'But 'twas his will!—and oh! that I
'That will could have obey'd,
'Without the guilt of broken vows,
'Or EMMA's peace betray'd!

'Now that my frowardness of heart
'Hath brought him to his end,
'For this beside yon hallow'd sod
'In duteous wise I'll bend:

'For this, will daily wet the turf
'With my repentant eye,
'Nor ever from this solitude
'To fairer refuge fly.'

"Son," quoth the sage, and cast a look
As chill'd the youth all o'er;
(While minutes past, ere vital warmth
His senses did restore)—

"Son," quoth the sage, "thy doubts suspend,
"Their swelling tumults check,
"It is thy father clasps thee thus,
"And weeps upon thy neck.

"Long have I held thee in discourse
"With pent-up agony;
"Now let my gushing tears have way,
"They're blessings shower'd on thee.

"Charm'd with thy duteous excellence,
"Thy strength of filial love,
"My full forgiveness let these streams
"And warm embraces prove!

"And oh! can'st thou forgive the cause
"That drove thee from thy home,
"Sore-smote with grief, in distant grounds,
"And stranger-fields to roam?"

'Can I forgive?—Oh! father, such
'Unseemly terms restrain;
'Can I forgive?—It is enough,
'I see thee once again.

'But said'st thou not, beneath yon elm'—
"My dearest son, I did;
"There have I mark'd my chosen spot,
"There made my latest bed.

"Of thee berest, what booted it,
"To tend the furrow'd plain,
"Or what from Autumn's fruitful lap
"To heap the ripen'd grain?

"Whom had I then to cheer my steps
"In Summer's sultry rays?
"For whom should then the social hearth
"In winter-ev'ning blaze?

"My house, my barns, I left at large
"To moulder and decay;
"Yon humble tenement I rais'd,
"My age's only stay.

"Enough for me, who meant forlorn
"To pass life's dragging eve,
"My task, to meditate and pray—
"My punishment, to grieve.

"For oh! my son! too late I felt
"This truth within my heart,
"That to compel the filial mind
"Is not a parent's part.

"And hence this penitential garb,
"And hence these silver hairs,
"Whose hoary length the sad recluse
"Or pensive hermit wears.

'Dear, honour'd father, droop no more,
'Thus, on my bended knee,
'I crave, I claim—renounce thy griefs,
'Cast, cast them all on me.

'With unremitting love and care
'Thy sorrows I'll assuage,
'And with obsequious duty tend
'The remnant of thy age.'

"Arise, my son, and to my cell
"Together let us wend,
"Let us beneath one roof embrace,
"Ere yet my days shall end.

"And shall the thought of EMMA's love
"No more suffuse thine eye,
"Nor chide thy father for her loss?"—
'She's buried in this sigh!'

"What wondrous bliss to virtuous minds
"Will Heav'n not deign to lend?
"Within my homely hut, my son,
"There all thy sorrows end.

"There, there, still sweetly-fair, once more
"Thy EMMA shalt thou see,
"Within my homely hut she dwells,
"My age's comfort she.

"Her father dead, I fill'd his place,
"The guardian of her youth,
"I now restore her to thy love,
"Thy wishes, and thy truth."

Young CADWAL waited not for more,
But to his EMMA flew,
Wherc lock'd awhile in close embrace,
Each to the other grew.

From incoherent words and sighs
Such wondrous transports brake,
Far more than honey'd Eloquence
With all her tongues could speak.

And now with strong enquiring look
They search each other's eye,
To ask if what they see be true,
And doubt the real joy.

Anon the father's quick'ning steps
They greet with bended grace,
And with uplifted eyes adore,
And bless his rev'rend face.

"Now, by this hallow'd Eve I vow,
"Soon as the mass be done,
"The next ensuing holy-day
"The priest shall make ye one.

"And ye shall live (so Heav'n permit!)
"To cast one gleam of light
"Athwart your father's gath'ring eve,
"Or ere he sink in night;

"Or ere beneath yon aged elm
"He's number'd with the dead,
"The chosen spot, where his own hands
"Have made his latest bed.

"But while some hours of life are lent,
"By gratitude and pray'r,
"Repentant of my errors past,
"Those errors I'll repair:

"And oft as I recount them o'er,
"Thy steady faith I'll praise,
"And for my dearest boy once more
"The social hearth shall blaze.

"Age, ev'n as youth, thou seest, my son,
"Is liable to fall,
'And Self-reproof and Penitence
"Alike beseem us all."