The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker Edited from the original manuscripts and annotated copies together with a prefatory notice and bibliography by Alfred Wallis |
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A REMEMBRANCE. |
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 | The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker |  |
A REMEMBRANCE.
Smiles have been mine, and gentle hearts have yearned
In love toward me in my pilgrimage!
And there was one, whose smile was valued more
By my young soul than all the common lurings,
The snares of beauty for unpractised feeling.
More suns had shone on her than had been mine
By many a summer; but she still was fair,
And every charm was mellowed into sweetness.
In love toward me in my pilgrimage!
And there was one, whose smile was valued more
By my young soul than all the common lurings,
The snares of beauty for unpractised feeling.
More suns had shone on her than had been mine
By many a summer; but she still was fair,
And every charm was mellowed into sweetness.
Her form rose up in grace, and not a feature
Bloomed in her loveliness that was not soul:
Her voice was harmony's spirit, and the soft,
Mellifluous breathings of her fairy lip
Were like the air-harp's music, and the sound
Of waters murmuring, in mingled sweetness.
In scenes where hearts beat high and eyes were bright,
Where common love and joy were found in union,
She would sit silent, in delight's abstraction,
Communing with her feelings, wrapt in dreams
Of fancy's vision, and she would be sad
That all around her was—reality.
'Twas said that many strove to gain the heart
Bestowed on none—they could not love like her.
Bloomed in her loveliness that was not soul:
Her voice was harmony's spirit, and the soft,
Mellifluous breathings of her fairy lip
Were like the air-harp's music, and the sound
Of waters murmuring, in mingled sweetness.
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Where common love and joy were found in union,
She would sit silent, in delight's abstraction,
Communing with her feelings, wrapt in dreams
Of fancy's vision, and she would be sad
That all around her was—reality.
'Twas said that many strove to gain the heart
Bestowed on none—they could not love like her.
I went to say farewell, before the world
Knew of my footsteps.—
Knew of my footsteps.—
'Twas a summer eve,
And day was melting into chastened beauty:
I found her in her bower, her place of life,
A spot that overlooked the wrathless ocean:
She bade me gaze upon a swelling wave,
That rushed unbridled on—a frowning rock
Reared in its path, and it was lost in foam!
Another came in gentleness, and soft
It glided by in silvery loveliness;
“And this,” she said, “is life,” and as she spake
A tear was trembling in her eloquent eye.
“Thy way is all before thee, and thy path
“None can point out: but may the peace of heaven
“Be to thy goings a star of light!”
She prest my forehead with her trembling lip,
And was to me no more.
And day was melting into chastened beauty:
I found her in her bower, her place of life,
A spot that overlooked the wrathless ocean:
She bade me gaze upon a swelling wave,
That rushed unbridled on—a frowning rock
Reared in its path, and it was lost in foam!
Another came in gentleness, and soft
It glided by in silvery loveliness;
“And this,” she said, “is life,” and as she spake
A tear was trembling in her eloquent eye.
“Thy way is all before thee, and thy path
“None can point out: but may the peace of heaven
“Be to thy goings a star of light!”
She prest my forehead with her trembling lip,
And was to me no more.
I could not leave that place of many thoughts
Till I had wept.
Till I had wept.
| The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker | |