The Fate of Adelaide | ||
95
TO ---
[Oh! say not, that I love not nature's face]
Oh! say not, that I love not nature's face,And that I cannot know her beauty's power!
Pleasure is unto me a lonely thing:
Deep sorrow, or rapt joy, I cannot feel,
But in still solitude: I may not brook
Another's eye should mark my secret thoughts.
Since the first hour that tears or smiles were mine,
I never sought communion in my grief,
And none could share my silent happiness.
If thou would'st know how I do love to gaze
96
And mark the moonlight, when no one may see
Thy deep emotion, and no idle word
Of heartless praise disturb thy soul-felt spell;
Gaze on the stars, till thou dost deem the gale
That murmurs by is music from the spheres,
No taint of earth upon thy dream of heaven;
Watch the bright farewell of the sun, when he
Seeks the white bosom of his ocean-love.
Look on those glorious tints, till thou dost wish
Thou wert a beautiful shadow like to them—
A transitory, but a brilliant thing,
Born amid glory, past away in light;
Ah! then, indeed, nature has magic charms,
And I do love to dwell upon them then.
The Fate of Adelaide | ||