University of Virginia Library


42

PARTING.

I left her to the vulgar throng,
And in the staring day,
With waving hand, and whirled along
The cruel iron way;
But though her angel face is gone
From this poor outward sight,
A glory rests where once it shone,
That never can take flight;
Ah, if no more that beauty zoned
My hungry heart may thrill,
Deep in its bridal chamber throned
She is my Sovereign still.
I see her now against the sky,
As swaying oft she stood—
A morning radiance in her eye,
The pride of maidenhood;
The subtle movements of the form,
Reflecting every change,
Now struck as by some passing storm,
Now stirred to music strange;
The crimson lips, the crownéd hair,
The white and wondrous hand,
With all that makes a woman fair,
And beautiful a land.
Thou, sunbeam, flashing out of space,
To lighten many a load,
Shed lilies on my darling's face,
And roses on her road;
Thou, wind, now rippling on the sea,
And rustling through the grass,
Take sweetest waft of wave and lea
In perfume, ere she pass;
And tell her how I always miss
Her presence, if I err
To others, and O breathe this kiss
That faithful is to her.
Ah, everywhere some vestige lies,
A riband or a glove,
Just common things but sacred ties,
Which daily strengthen love;
While time, that friendship lulls to sleep,
And death with murderous knife,
Shall only render mine more deep,
And wake to larger life;
Divided yet we have one will,
No earthly bounds may part,
And we will walk united still
For ever, heart with heart.