 | The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems |  |
117
PORTRAITS.
LOUISE IN NORMANDY.
WE walked where storks and swallows fly,
Louise! Louise!
All on the castle-terrace high,
We saw the village in the sun,
We saw the sparkling waters run;
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
Louise! Louise!
All on the castle-terrace high,
We saw the village in the sun,
We saw the sparkling waters run;
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
Around your waist I twined my arm,
Louise! Louise!
I felt your life throb wild and warm;
But Love soon hushed the first alarm:
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
Louise! Louise!
I felt your life throb wild and warm;
But Love soon hushed the first alarm:
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
We saw the peasants churchward climb,
Louise! Louise!
We heard the bells ring slow in chime,
And as they rung we kissed in time:
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
Louise! Louise!
We heard the bells ring slow in chime,
And as they rung we kissed in time:
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
Too slow the church-bells' melody!
Louise! Louise!
Yes; much too slow for you and me,
High over all where none could see:
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
Louise! Louise!
Yes; much too slow for you and me,
High over all where none could see:
Birds fluttering, hearts a-beating.
118
EVA.
I'VE seen bright eyes like mountain lakes,
Reflecting heaven's blue;
And some like black volcano-gulfs,
With wildfire flashing through;
Reflecting heaven's blue;
And some like black volcano-gulfs,
With wildfire flashing through;
But thine are like the eternal skies,
Which draw the soul afar—
Their every glance a meteor,
And every thought a star.
Which draw the soul afar—
Their every glance a meteor,
And every thought a star.
Some lips when robbed seem cherries sweet,
—Small sin to those who stole—
But thine are like the Eden fruit,
Whose theft may cost a soul.
—Small sin to those who stole—
But thine are like the Eden fruit,
Whose theft may cost a soul.
Oh, coral fruit of Paradise!
Who would not grasp the prize?
With heaven so near to bring him back,
In those eternal eyes.
Who would not grasp the prize?
With heaven so near to bring him back,
In those eternal eyes.
119
MANUELA.
RED the lips of Manuela—
How the lady loves to kiss!
How the lady loves to kiss!
Ah, when Manuela kisses,
First she kisses with her glances!
Then her red lips kiss each other,
Practising for warm encounters.
First she kisses with her glances!
Then her red lips kiss each other,
Practising for warm encounters.
Then she kisses with her eyelids,
Kisses with her arching eyebrows,
With her soft cheek softly rubbing,
With her chin and hands and fingers.
Kisses with her arching eyebrows,
With her soft cheek softly rubbing,
With her chin and hands and fingers.
All the frame of Manuela,
All her blood and all her spirit,
All melt down to burning kisses:
All she feeds on is their sugar.
All her blood and all her spirit,
All melt down to burning kisses:
All she feeds on is their sugar.
Oh, thou sun above us flying!
Breeze from land to land still roaming,
Saw ye ever yet a lady
Half so fair or fond of kissing?
Breeze from land to land still roaming,
Saw ye ever yet a lady
Half so fair or fond of kissing?
Red the lips of Manuela—
How the lady loves to kiss!
How the lady loves to kiss!
120
ERMENGILDE.
FAR in the forest
'Mid the rocks,
His hands unwound
Her heavy locks.
In the tawny waves
They swam with bliss,
While red lips pressed
The close wet kiss.
Oh, broken leaves and withered flowers,
Ye witnesses of golden hours!
Spring up afresh, and tell to none
Why your white sides are towards the sun.
'Mid the rocks,
His hands unwound
Her heavy locks.
In the tawny waves
They swam with bliss,
While red lips pressed
The close wet kiss.
Oh, broken leaves and withered flowers,
Ye witnesses of golden hours!
Spring up afresh, and tell to none
Why your white sides are towards the sun.
Beneath the vines,
Where none could hear,
Vines seem too human
Creeping near;
Awed with their secret
Dread-confessed,
Yet both half-lost
In being bless'd.
Oh, river swimming to the sea,
Our death-pall thou shouldst quickly be,
If one in all the world could dream
That we had kissed beside thy stream.
Where none could hear,
Vines seem too human
Creeping near;
Awed with their secret
Dread-confessed,
Yet both half-lost
In being bless'd.
Oh, river swimming to the sea,
Our death-pall thou shouldst quickly be,
If one in all the world could dream
That we had kissed beside thy stream.
121
CALLIRHOE.
DARK eyes—dark eyes—pale, earnest face,
Oh, when I feel your power,
The world seems mean and pitiful,
Its fiercest storm a shower.
Oh, when I feel your power,
The world seems mean and pitiful,
Its fiercest storm a shower.
Dark eyes—eternal soul of pride!
Deep life of all that's true!
Oh, what were death or anything
To one full thought of you?
Deep life of all that's true!
Oh, what were death or anything
To one full thought of you?
Away, away to other skies!
Away o'er sea and sands!
Such eyes as those were never made
To shine in earthly lands.
Away o'er sea and sands!
Such eyes as those were never made
To shine in earthly lands.
122
MIRIAM.
OH Miriam! Pearl of the morning, gazelle of the palm-land, soul of my spirit,Daughter of Akiba, beloved of the faithful and the Goyim!
Blue sea; sister of lilies and roses!
There came to me a dream fresh on the wings of the morning,
Soft as the light of the Silver Sabbath lamp, when it shines on the Pesach feast.
Dear as thine eye when loveliest beaming, love's sister.
I walked by thy side in a dream; we walked by a river:—
Jordan rolls not more gently: purple its waters;
Thine eyes were upon me, beloved, thy star-light eyes, blessed as the lamp of the Sanctuary,
Black eyes of infinite fire—oh soul, thou art lovely!
Beauty of the East—the golden sequins and ear-rings—the antique gold of Judea,
Which hangs upon thy forehead with the golden earrings from Damascus,
Which thou had'st from Sara thy aunt—all the gold around thy dear face
Is but the frame of a picture too fine for its setting,
My arm and thine twined like the vines in spring,
123
I kissed thee, oh beloved!—on the sand by the purple waters.
Anna the gracious is fair; fair, too, is Sara the mistress;
Abigail the joy of her father, and Ruth the satisfied;
Tabitha the roe-buck, light are her footsteps and lovely;
Esther the secret and silent, and Rachel the sheep;
Eva life giving; Judith praising, confessing;
Jemima fair as the day; Hagar, the stranger;
Hannah gracious and merciful; Huldah all the world;
Yes, all the world and its loveliness hath nothing like thine, little sister!
Thy bitterness, oh Miriam, is sweeter than all their sweetness!
124
FLORENCE.
THE winds still rock the merry waves,
And the blue waves shake the shore;
But thine azure eyes and gentle words
Will move my heart no more.
And the blue waves shake the shore;
But thine azure eyes and gentle words
Will move my heart no more.
Oh Sea! thou may'st well be glorious
With thy snow-capped sapphire waves;
There's a fairer white and a deeper blue
Deep hid in thy silent caves.
With thy snow-capped sapphire waves;
There's a fairer white and a deeper blue
Deep hid in thy silent caves.
Oh Wind! thou may'st well be wailing
With thy moaning, droning sound,
For a sweeter, softer voice than thine
By the wind in the water drowned.
With thy moaning, droning sound,
For a sweeter, softer voice than thine
By the wind in the water drowned.
Oh Sea and Wind!—together,
Since first your course has run,
Ye have ta'en the brave and beautiful:—
Could ye not spare us one?
Since first your course has run,
Ye have ta'en the brave and beautiful:—
Could ye not spare us one?
Not one!—in the breezy morning
Thou'lt wake me no more from dreams:
Not one!—in the dewy evening
I shall miss thine eyes' blue gleams.
Thou'lt wake me no more from dreams:
Not one!—in the dewy evening
I shall miss thine eyes' blue gleams.
| The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems | |