O, were that I were alone in the world;
O, were that I were alone!
Were that I had no mother
no sister, no father, no brother
were that I had no passion to cast me asunder
into pits of care!

Were that I did not feel
that deep-seated passion of loneliness
while all around crept the shadows of
ev'ry estranged ally!
Were that the pangs of my heart
did not find themselves borne by
the sympathies of friendship;
were that I remain'd unshaken
by the cull of judgement, my acrid need
to find in their eyes a pittance of pity:
an acceptance into their company!

Were that I were not shaken
by tremors of isolation, nor
thought of my own injustice:
a deficit of foundation for
the very grief of my solitude!
O were that 'pon searching within
th' heaving breast of my soul, though finding
torment, though finding pain, ne'er

that cold-seated horror: that
'midst the quietude of company,
'midst the void of camaraderie,
there truly sits no reason
for my despair.