University of Virginia Library


44

LOVE'S GLASS

Love's is a glass of magic power, that charms
All futures into focus,
Since erst, half-veiled, within our mother's arms,
Life's glimmering dawn awoke us;
Till lo! one glance, and forth the lover fares,
Nor long the journey reckons,
Though still, through manhood, on to hoary hairs,
The same blue distance beckons.
If 'wildering darkness on his feet should fall,
The sun in heaven denied him,
He lacks no light who sees the end of all—
Love's magic glass to guide him;
And where life's fading lines the boundary kissed,
As if in faith's derision,
Death melts before him like a wall of mist,
Nor intercepts the vision.