Poems Lyrical and Dramatic :: :: University of Virginia Library

When the glow of the languid light was ended
And earth smiled back to the sun's last ray,
And the palace of Heav'n in the west shone splendid
As it opened its gates to the chariot day,

By the bank of a ruffled lake I lay,
And the sigh of the wavelets soothed mine ear—
But what were the words of their longing lay?
She cometh, she cometh, she lingers near.

Then a distant murmuring sound ascended
As the wind in the whispering grass 'gan stray,
And the music of Nature's voices blended
With the tinkle and plash of the falling spray,
As it laughed in the mirth of its wanton play,
Till a voice in my bosom re-echoing clear
Told me the same sweet tale as they—
She cometh, she cometh, she lingers near.

Then I lifted mine eyes, and behold there wended
By the banks of the waters, in white array,
The form that I long had awaited, and then did
My heart for a moment its motion stay,
And the breathless breeze with a mute delay
Sank, and there was not a sound to hear,
But the very silence seemed to say
She cometh, she cometh, she lingers near.

L'Envoy.

She came in the dusk of the twilight grey,
But it was not the maid to my true heart dear,
And the wind laughed loud as I wandered away,
She cometh, she cometh, she lingers near.