The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker ... Edited with a memoir of the author by the Rev. J. Moultrie |
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ONCE MORE. |
 | The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker |  |
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ONCE MORE.
Once more, and yet once more, mine early love,Have I beheld thee; but thy face is wan,
And change, and sorrow, and a law austere,
Have done their work upon thee: yet thy hair
Is golden still; and in thy voice I trace
The tones that thrill'd my boyish heart in song;
And in thy looks and in thy words what seems
The ghost of that sweet playfulness, which made
Thy early years so exquisite, and hung
Upon thee, like a garland of wild flowers.
But care and inward strife have temper'd now
All sadness; and the heartless spirit and light,
Gazing on thee, would from that placid brow,
So fix'd and stedfast in its melancholy,
Recoil soul-humbled. Fancy might descry
In thee, thus pale and solemn of attire,
Some veiled votaress of the faith thou lov'st,
O'er her deserted shrine in quiet woe
Mourning; or partial love in thee might trace
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Young, playful, frank, high-minded, whom, to her faith
Stedfast, and to her Queen, in darkest hour,
The mighty fabler of these latter times
In song-like story hath immortalized.
| The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker | |