 | Poems |  |
48
ABSENCE.
The shadowed hours have lingered long
Since we together communed last;
Thy smile—thy graceful step—thy song,
Are phantasms of the past—
Since we together communed last;
Thy smile—thy graceful step—thy song,
Are phantasms of the past—
No! of the future magnet-spells,
Which draw my earnest eye—
Which on unbroken darkness dwells,
If thy form floats not by.
Which draw my earnest eye—
Which on unbroken darkness dwells,
If thy form floats not by.
Let me transplant those night-flowers pale,
Passion, and Fear, and Memory,
To realms which Hope's enchanted gale
Brightens with colourings of the sky.
Passion, and Fear, and Memory,
To realms which Hope's enchanted gale
Brightens with colourings of the sky.
49
Yet if we're doomed to meet no more,
And Hope—like something real—must fade,
O, bear to life's extremest shore
One dream of me—fresh, undecayed!
And Hope—like something real—must fade,
O, bear to life's extremest shore
One dream of me—fresh, undecayed!
I know thou wilt not all forget
One who forgot all else but thee;
Yet think but of the hours we met
In happiness and joyauncy.
One who forgot all else but thee;
Yet think but of the hours we met
In happiness and joyauncy.
No—thou'lt rehearse with fond regret
All times we've passed together!
Nor wilt thou, like the skies, forget
Thy heart's first summer weather.
All times we've passed together!
Nor wilt thou, like the skies, forget
Thy heart's first summer weather.
Nor like the waves, whose breezy dance
Doth th' onsped bark's pale track efface;
No—fixed, to scorn all change and chance,
Shall be true love's untroubled trace.
Doth th' onsped bark's pale track efface;
No—fixed, to scorn all change and chance,
Shall be true love's untroubled trace.
50
Yet if new suns should bless thy sphere—
New summers laugh around thee,
My woman's heart could wish to tear
The chain which bruised and bound thee.
New summers laugh around thee,
My woman's heart could wish to tear
The chain which bruised and bound thee.
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