 | Western windows and other poems |  |
210
‘To ---.”
THE CALL OF THE YOUNG MAN.
Beloved One—whose gentle, floating form
Visits my dreams in blissful heart and eyes—
Where art thou, Love? My heart is beating warm;
From dreams alone, I rise!
Visits my dreams in blissful heart and eyes—
Where art thou, Love? My heart is beating warm;
From dreams alone, I rise!
Long have I known thee: first I saw thy face,
With laughter ringing through thy girlhood years,
Kissing the Future with a buoyant grace,
The Past with lighted tears.
With laughter ringing through thy girlhood years,
Kissing the Future with a buoyant grace,
The Past with lighted tears.
Come from my dreaming to my waking heart!
Awake, within my soul there stands alone
Thy marble soul: in lovely dreams apart,
Thy sweet heart fills the stone!
Awake, within my soul there stands alone
Thy marble soul: in lovely dreams apart,
Thy sweet heart fills the stone!
Oft I have trembled with a maiden near,
In the dear dream that thou wast come at last,
Veil'd in her face: oh, empty atmosphere!—
Those dreams woke in the Past!
In the dear dream that thou wast come at last,
Veil'd in her face: oh, empty atmosphere!—
Those dreams woke in the Past!
211
It may be, thou hast ne'er had mortal birth,
Or childhood's wings to Heaven with thee have flown,
My Eve in Paradise! O'er all the Earth
Must Adam walk alone?
Or childhood's wings to Heaven with thee have flown,
My Eve in Paradise! O'er all the Earth
Must Adam walk alone?
Oh, that thou breathest Earth or Heaven, I know;
I call, like Orpheus, into shadowy air:
Where art thou, dear? My heart makes answer low—
Its bridal chamber—“Where?”
I call, like Orpheus, into shadowy air:
Where art thou, dear? My heart makes answer low—
Its bridal chamber—“Where?”
Oh, waken in my morning thy pure eyes!
Thy voice from angel-air of dreams remove.
Sweet Chance! blow those strange seeds of Paradise
Together, flowering love!
Thy voice from angel-air of dreams remove.
Sweet Chance! blow those strange seeds of Paradise
Together, flowering love!
While yet my life is in warm bloom, appear;
Come ere the first veil from the years depart.
Cottage with thee to me were palace. Dear,
Thy palace be my heart!
Come ere the first veil from the years depart.
Cottage with thee to me were palace. Dear,
Thy palace be my heart!
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