Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Whirl, whirl fleet wheel your ringing round
Beneath my keen foot's rapid tread;
Your changeless circle swiftly sweep,
And twist the ever length'ning thread;
While fierce beneath my beating heart
That throbs, o'erwrought with pain and strife,
The swift blood, whirling through my veins,
Spins out the thread of weary Life.

II

Whirl, whirl, fleet wheel, and while you whirl
Beneath my keen foot's rapid tread,
A thousand filaments enwreathe
To swell the ever-growing thread;
And so beneath my beating heart
A thousand broken memories move,
A thousand tangled thoughts entwine
To twist the cord of hopeless Love.

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III

Now sinks the Day-Star to his rest,
The wheel shall cease its circling sweep,
The weary foot forego its toil,
The thread upon the spindle sleep;
Oh! that with these my breaking heart
Might cease to beat, to throb, and quiver,
The swift blood sleep within my veins
And Life and Love be still for ever!