 | Fand and Other Poems |  |
8
Floated in golden eddies round the bower,
And choral echoes answered and singing birds;
Such was its sweetness, but for the goad of fear
Myself had swooned into forgetfulness.
But when the last was heard, with hasty steps,
Stealthy, I crept around and found a way
Between the branches: there on a golden couch,
Strewn with soft cushions and rich coverlets,
In gently smiling sleep Cuhoolin lay
Alone: I took his hand and kissed his brow,
Saying “awake, O husband! it is day,—
Mid-day, when none but sluggards take their ease:
And art thou drowsy, who wert wont to chide
The laggard footsteps of the summer morn?”
He woke, and stared at me amazedly.
“What does this mean?” he asked: “when last I waked
I talked with Fand: can Fand to Emer fade?
The roses lose no blush: I am perplexed.”
“Oh! come,” said I, “this air is oversweet,
Laden with languid dreams and drowsiness;
Beside the lake there moves a clearer air,
Come, and thou soon wilt understand.”
| Fand and Other Poems | |