 | Flotsam and Jetsam |  |
20
A VALENTINE.
That morning of all mornings of my life!
That window of all windows in the world!
Square-mullioned, diamond-latticed, ivy-framed,
How tiger-like I watched it! prowling keen
The balustraded garden moss-o'ergrown,
Darkened with cedars close up to the wall,
That roofed the outside stair, and aisled the straight
Broad shadowy walks about which I had chafed
Restlessly pacing from the peep of day!
And O the happy fever of the heart
When that white obstinate curtain that so long
So ruthlessly immovable had hung,
Lifted a little corner, but enough
To let out bliss how measureless! for she,
She to the window came!
You would have thought
It was some loving sunbeam had been lured
Into her sacred chamber yestereve,
Shut in by chance while loitering there beguiled,
All night detained in its delightful prison,
And chose this moment for its bright escape!—
That window of all windows in the world!
Square-mullioned, diamond-latticed, ivy-framed,
How tiger-like I watched it! prowling keen
The balustraded garden moss-o'ergrown,
Darkened with cedars close up to the wall,
That roofed the outside stair, and aisled the straight
Broad shadowy walks about which I had chafed
Restlessly pacing from the peep of day!
And O the happy fever of the heart
When that white obstinate curtain that so long
So ruthlessly immovable had hung,
Lifted a little corner, but enough
To let out bliss how measureless! for she,
She to the window came!
You would have thought
It was some loving sunbeam had been lured
Into her sacred chamber yestereve,
Shut in by chance while loitering there beguiled,
21
And chose this moment for its bright escape!—
The Morn, so bashful though in robes of pearl
(Like a poor damsel made a rich man's bride)
Stole through a gap in that high cedarn screen,
Stole timidly and sought admittance there!
But most like one in dusky twilight-time
Who comes upon a mirror unawares,
Started to see an image of herself,
With innocent eyes that might have been her own,
And brightlier blushed to find herself forestalled!
O but that blush was by a rosier one
Rivalled in radiant gladness, when the Maid
Peeping so shyly from the window saw
Whose longing 'twas that worshipped her below!—
Could she have hid the gladness that she felt?
Ah no! howe'er she wished it! Then as ever,
Her soul was like a beehive built of glass,
And you could see her sweet thoughts everyone
Like honey-bees at work. For sweetness she
From everything extracted and to all
Dispensed it; never niggard of the stores
Which more for others than herself she kept
In choice abundance hived within her heart
A heart so circled with sincerity
Of such transparent and crystalline temper,
A glance would show its inmost cells o'erflowing
With golden love and pure benevolence!
(Like a poor damsel made a rich man's bride)
Stole through a gap in that high cedarn screen,
Stole timidly and sought admittance there!
But most like one in dusky twilight-time
Who comes upon a mirror unawares,
Started to see an image of herself,
With innocent eyes that might have been her own,
And brightlier blushed to find herself forestalled!
O but that blush was by a rosier one
Rivalled in radiant gladness, when the Maid
Peeping so shyly from the window saw
Whose longing 'twas that worshipped her below!—
Could she have hid the gladness that she felt?
Ah no! howe'er she wished it! Then as ever,
Her soul was like a beehive built of glass,
And you could see her sweet thoughts everyone
Like honey-bees at work. For sweetness she
From everything extracted and to all
Dispensed it; never niggard of the stores
Which more for others than herself she kept
In choice abundance hived within her heart
A heart so circled with sincerity
22
A glance would show its inmost cells o'erflowing
With golden love and pure benevolence!
So did she let her guileless joy be seen
That morning; so for many a chequered year
Through the dim paths and highways of this world
She walked—a naked soul—a visible mind
—My Valentine—that morning; and through life.
That morning; so for many a chequered year
Through the dim paths and highways of this world
She walked—a naked soul—a visible mind
—My Valentine—that morning; and through life.
| Flotsam and Jetsam | |