University of Virginia Library


60

MET AGAIN.

We parted, blinded with our tears,
And choking with our sighs,
The moon above my pallid brow,
The sunset in her eyes.
We parted as the daisies paled
Before the coming night,
Beside the brook with curve and flow,
A silver train of light.
But in our hearts there still lived Hope,
That beamed with golden ray,
And though the long night fast approached,
And short had been the day,
Yet still a smile broke through our tears,
And lightened half the pain;
And with regret, and yet with hope,
We said, “We meet again.”
That prophesying of our hearts
Had not been false or vain;
'T was after years of absence sad
That we two met again.
We met—but years had changed our fates;

61

We both had older grown,
“You came,” said she, “to seek my heart—
I give you back your own.”
Alas! I gave it to her pure,
And free from wrong or stain;
'T was dimmed and dulled and broken when
She gave it back again.
We parted with cold, heartless smiles,
And words of trifling vain.
I did not curse, nor weep, but sighed
That we had met again.
March 18th, 1866.