University of Virginia Library

ANTICIPATION

I had a vision in the summer light—
Sorrow was in it and my inward sight
Ached with sad images. The touch of tears
Gush'd down own my cheeks:—the figur'd woes of years
Casting their shadows across sunny hours.
Oh there was nothing sorrowful in flow'rs
Wooing the glances of an April sun,
Or apple blossoms opening one by one
Their crimson bosoms—or the twitter'd words
And warbled sentences of merry birds;—
Or the small glitter and the humming wings
Of golden flies and many colour'd things—
Oh these were nothing sad—nor to see Her,
Sitting beneath the comfortable stir
Of early leaves—casting the playful grace
Of moving shadows on so fair a face—
Nor in her brow serene—nor in the love
Of her mild eyes drinking the light above
With a long thirst—nor in her gentle smile—
Nor in her hand that shone blood-red the while
She rais'd it in the sun. All these were dear
To heart and eye—but an invisible fear
Shook in the trees and chill'd upon the air,
And if one spot was laughing brightest—there
My soul most sank and darken'd in despair!—
As if the shadows of a curtain'd room
Haunted me in the sun—as if the bloom
Of early flow'rets had no sweets for me
Nor apple blossoms any blush to see—
As if the noon had brought too bright a day—
And little birds were all too gay!—too gay!
As if the beauty of that Lovely One
Were all a fable.—Full before the sun
Stood Death and cast a shadow long before,
Like a dark pall enshrouding her all o'er,
Till eyes, and lips, and smiles, were all no more!