84 "AFAR IN THE DESERT." 



The home of my childhood, the haunts of my prime, 



All the passions and scenes of that rapturous time, 



When the feelings were young, and the world was new, 



Like the fresh bowers of Paradise opening to view. 



All, all now forsaken, forgotten, or gone, 



And I a lone exile remember'd of none; 



My high aims abandon'd, my good acts undone, 



Aweary of all that is under the sun; 



With that sadness of heart which no stranger may scan 



I fly to the Desert, afar from man. 



2. 



Afar in the Desert, I love to ride, 



With the silent bushboy alone by my side, 



When the wild turmoil of this wearisome life, 



With its scenes of oppression, corruption, and strife: 



The proud man's frown, the base man's fear, 



The scorner's laugh, and the sufferer's tear, 



And malice, and meanness, and falsehood and folly, 



Dispose me to musing, and dark melancholy; 



When my bosom is full, and my thoughts are high. 



And my soul is sick, with the bondsman's sigh : 



Oh then ! there is freedom, and joy, and pride, 



Afar in the Desert, alone to ride. 



There is rapture to vault on the champing steed, 



And to bound away, with the eagle's speed; 



With the death-fraught firelock in my hand, 



(The only law of the Desert land) 



But 'tis not the innocent to destroy^ 



For I hate the huntsman's savage joy. 



Afar in the Desert, I love to ride, 



With the silent bushboy alone by my side. 



