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The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker

... Edited with a memoir of the author by the Rev. J. Moultrie

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O COME TO ME.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


28

O COME TO ME.

—επειδαν πιεζομενους αυτοος επιλιπωσιν αι φανεραι ελπιδες, επι τας αφανεις καθιστανται. Thuc. v. 103.

O come to me! too long I've sigh'd
O'er vanish'd joys, and hopes destroy'd;
Too long I've nurs'd, from all apart,
The anguish of a lonely heart.
O come to me, my Spirit-love!
'Tis dark within, around, above;
My soul is sick with care and fear;
My Spirit-love, oh haste thee here!
Come in that mist of pale, pale light,
Wherewith thou lov'st to meet my sight;
Thy earthly sign, the visible dress
Of thy unbodied loveliness.

29

Come when thou wilt—oh! far more dear
Than all our garish pleasures here
The thrill of heart-deep awe shall be,
Which tells thy coming unto me!
My words in measured tones shall flow,
Fitting thy presence, soft and low;
Thou shalt make answer in the tongue
Which spirits use, half thought, half song.
I'll tell thee all the load I bear
Of unparticipated care,—
Of secret griefs, that shun the eye
Of cold and vain society.
And thou shalt charm the sickly strife
With thy sweet looks, and words of life;
The gloom of sadness thou shalt cheer,
And quell the tyranny of fear.
We'll talk of love, and all beside
That dies not when the flesh hath died;
Of truth unchangeable, sublime,
That mocks the chains of space and time:

30

Thou'lt tell me all that man may know,
Of worlds above, and worlds below;
And all of wonderful or fair
Thou'st learn'd since last we parted here.
Of dear ones lost—the young, the gay,
How they waned, and waned, and past away:
And thou wilt tell me if thy wings
Have cross'd them in their wanderings.
Of her, yet mine, whom love hath borne
Through life-long toil, and wrong, and scorn;
Whose restless heart e'en now doth wake
Through night's dull watches for my sake.
So will we mingle converse high
Of love and holy mystery,
Till the cold and glaring day
Calls us from our joys away.