 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
354
SERENADE.—GUIDE ME, OH GUIDE ME!
I.
Guide me, oh guide me, night of many stars,If love's young dream was ever dear to thee;
Guide me, while not a hostile murmur mars
The music of the sweetly sounding sea;
While fearless up yon rocky steeps I clamber,
Where hangs the beacon of my heart on high,
To where Bianca, in her latticed chamber,
Sits silent, gazing in the silent sky!
Silent, so silent, gazing in the sky,
As if it had for her's an answering eye!
Oh! if young love be precious in thy sight,
Night of sweet silence, night of many stars,
Guide me, sweet night!
II.
She knows my coming, waits me, gentle night!See where, half hidden by the lattice bars,
She looks abroad, still blessing the dear light,
That makes love fruitful, of thy many stars.
Ah! dost thou hearken, as she murmurs now,
Her prayer, that, guided by thy loving ray,
My feet may spring along the rocky brow,
And safely reach her o'er the untrodden way?
Silent the prayer, but, gazing in the sky,
Thou see'st her very soul is in her eye!
Oh! if young love be precious in thy sight,
Mother of silence, night of many stars,
Guide me, sweet night!
355
III.
Nor, when at last, within that chamber blest,Her beating bosom closely clings to mine,
Shall prayer of either heart be unexpress'd,
Night of sweet stars, that thou hast bade them shine.
And when the summer evening hours are long,
When 'neath the whispering groves of green we glide,
Our mutual souls shall follow thee with song,
Fond as the loving light thou lend'st to guide!—
Oh! groves made holy, happy in our bliss,
Be each sweet night that hallows thee like this!
Mother of silence, night of many stars,
Oh! if young love be precious in thy sight,
Guide us, sweet night!
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |