Aj, Memory torture me no more,
The present’s all o’ercast;
My hopes of future bliss are o’er,
In Mercy veil the past.
2.
Why bring these Images to view
I henceforth must resign?
Ah, why those happy hours renew,
That never can be mine?
3.
Past pleasure doubles present pain,
To Sorrow adds regret:
Regret and Hope are both in vain,
I ask but — to Forget. 1804.
[First published, Paris, 1831.]
