Denzil place a story in verse. By Violet Fane [i.e. M. M. Lamb] |
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| I. |
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| II. |
| III. |
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| V. |
| VI. |
| II. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
 | Denzil place |  |
Ah, if in that despairing parting hour
All the wild grief they felt at sev'ring thus,
Or all the bliss at being side by side—
If their warm youth, and the delicious South,
And ev'ry soft intoxicating sound
Breathing of amorous and intensest life
Fed with sweet odours;—if all this conspired
To vanquish their too sternly sterile vows—
If ev'ry little faint malicious flow'r,
And ev'ry cunning little croaking frog—
And ev'ry happy hanging orange-orb
And tender bridal-bud,—if all these seem'd
But small familiar echoes from the voice
Of Nature, which invited them to join
In her regardless self-abandonment,
So doubly dangerous when both the hearts
That beat in unison, love with a love
Which ‘passeth knowledge,’ if—but wherefore muse
On that which Night, and Solitude, and Love
Witness'd alone? unless the cypress too,
Or dark arbutus, with its scarlet fruit,
May silently have listen'd to their vows
Or shudder'd at their long, forbidden kiss!—
These folded in their dim mysterious shade
The two poor lovers, as they sought the town,
Clinging together sadly to the last,
Or arm in arm, or holding hand in hand
Like little children.
All the wild grief they felt at sev'ring thus,
210
If their warm youth, and the delicious South,
And ev'ry soft intoxicating sound
Breathing of amorous and intensest life
Fed with sweet odours;—if all this conspired
To vanquish their too sternly sterile vows—
If ev'ry little faint malicious flow'r,
And ev'ry cunning little croaking frog—
And ev'ry happy hanging orange-orb
And tender bridal-bud,—if all these seem'd
But small familiar echoes from the voice
Of Nature, which invited them to join
In her regardless self-abandonment,
So doubly dangerous when both the hearts
That beat in unison, love with a love
Which ‘passeth knowledge,’ if—but wherefore muse
On that which Night, and Solitude, and Love
Witness'd alone? unless the cypress too,
Or dark arbutus, with its scarlet fruit,
May silently have listen'd to their vows
Or shudder'd at their long, forbidden kiss!—
These folded in their dim mysterious shade
The two poor lovers, as they sought the town,
Clinging together sadly to the last,
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Like little children.
Down the walk they pass'd;
The East was red, and speeding on the wings
Of Destiny, they saw the boding signs
Of dread To-morrow. Near the fading moon
Their enemy lay blushing o'er the hills.
The East was red, and speeding on the wings
Of Destiny, they saw the boding signs
Of dread To-morrow. Near the fading moon
Their enemy lay blushing o'er the hills.
| Denzil place | |