 | At Sunset |  |
87
TO MARY
Thou gracious atom, verging to decay,
What wert thou in the moment of thy stay?
The flowers in thy faded hands that lie
More briefly than thyself scarce bloom and die.
How was it when swift feet thy beauty bore,
And Life's warm ripple sunned thy marble o'er?
What wert thou in the moment of thy stay?
The flowers in thy faded hands that lie
More briefly than thyself scarce bloom and die.
How was it when swift feet thy beauty bore,
And Life's warm ripple sunned thy marble o'er?
A slender maiden, captured by a kiss,
Wed at the altar for a three years' bliss.
No longer space my life's indenture gave
From Juliet's courtship to Ophelia's grave.
The modest helper of heroic art,
The Heaven-bound anchor of a sinking heart.
Wed at the altar for a three years' bliss.
No longer space my life's indenture gave
From Juliet's courtship to Ophelia's grave.
The modest helper of heroic art,
The Heaven-bound anchor of a sinking heart.
Ask him who wooed me, earliest and last,
What was my office in Love's sacred past?
What was she, here in silken shell empearled
But my life's life, the comfort of the world?
What was my office in Love's sacred past?
What was she, here in silken shell empearled
But my life's life, the comfort of the world?
| At Sunset | |