The Poetical Works of George Barlow :: :: University of Virginia Library

The lights, the music, and the crowd
Of eager hearts and eyes:—
I had failed before,—to-night I vowed
To hold both weak and wise
And silence all applauding loud
Conventionalities,
And make the house one temple deep
Where men should yearn and women weep.

II

To-night my spirit-force should seize
Their spirits,—hold them bound.
I swore it;—through the scenic trees
Whose green boughs waved around
I gazed,—She came:—upon my knees
I fell—my love was found;
My love who (in the drama) fled
For years, and who, I thought, was dead.

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III

She came:—I lifted earnest gaze
And all my heart grew cold;
'Twas not the actress' well-known face,
But one I loved of old;
(How through the crowded heated place
The fiery music rolled!)
I saw her,—and I saw the sea
Shine, when her eyes fell swift on me.

IV

Ten years had passed since we had met:
But her grey changeless eyes
Flashed into mine and held me yet;
Through the gilt walls the skies
Gleamed, and a moonlit sea-shore wet
Before me seemed to rise—
(And still the orchestral music rolled
And wound about me, fold on fold!)

V

For months another had been there
And played that part with me:
To-night this woman with the old hair
And eyes,—how could it be?

143

(And then again that beach shone fair
And rolled that far-off sea
In unison with all the sound
Of music here that held me bound!)

VI

Then in a flash I saw that she
This single night had come,
Sent by the gods to act with me,—
And wonder held me dumb;
Her dark hair fluttered loose and free,
Full of a strange perfume,
About me,—and my heart became
A godlike winged thrice-potent flame.

VII

This single night—no more again—
(I saw it in a gleam)
I held her; she would vanish then,
And with her all my dream:
I felt the power, the joy of men
Who cross some fatal stream:
My nerves were iron, stretched and strung:
All heaven upon one moment hung.

144

VIII

To-night! to-night! then never more—
To-night the prize must fall
Unto my lot; once let me soar,
Or ever, worm-like, crawl!
(Gods! give me this—this, I implore—
This,—or nought else at all!)
Then all that crowded house to me
Grew silent,—like the silent sea.

IX

I never acted so of old,
And never shall again
Have force to seize and might to mould
The hearts of gazing men;—
My soul grew calm and great and bold,—
(Thundered the music then!)
I kissed her:—and through all the din
She knew I knew, and meant to win.

X

Her fiery lips clove fast to mine,
And my fire thrilled her deep—
(We saw the white waves' laughing line
And the soft blossoms' sleep,—

145

The blossoms that we used to twine)
My being with one leap
Sprang to a height where never yet
Actor's and lover's foot was set.

XI

“To-night,” I whispered, “fly with me”—
(How soulless seemed the Play!)
I knew her sweet eyes saw the sea,
She could not but obey,
Mine was she this night,—nor could he,
Her husband, further sway
The heart that, mine throughout the years,
Filled mine this night with fire and tears.

XII

And, when the Play was over, out
We sprang,—and all the night
Around me seemed to laugh and shout
With mad divine delight,
And the gold stars shone every doubt
And tremor out of sight:
We swore that next night we would be
By the old white-winged love-sweet sea.

146

XIII

And next night not on any Stage
We stood,—but by the deep:
And passion's billows ceased to rage,
And love's head fell asleep
Upon her breast,—and age on age
Seemed past our bower to sweep
Harmless and soundless, while we lay
Rapt in wild joy till dawn of day.