 | The heir of the world, and lesser poems |  |
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EMMELINE.
Lone, dark and silent is the way,
That leads to bowers of bliss,
But brightly shine in other worlds
The days so sad in this;
There pure and holy love is blest,
There joys for ever bloom—
But, oh, the path, that leads to rest,
Lies through the dark, cold tomb.
That leads to bowers of bliss,
But brightly shine in other worlds
The days so sad in this;
There pure and holy love is blest,
There joys for ever bloom—
But, oh, the path, that leads to rest,
Lies through the dark, cold tomb.
And vainly may we wake and weep,
And vainly sigh and wail
O'er bosom friends that slumber low
In death's unechoing vale;
For never, till our souls assume
Their airy forms above,
Can thought pierce through the folds of gloom
That shroud all we did love.
And vainly sigh and wail
O'er bosom friends that slumber low
In death's unechoing vale;
For never, till our souls assume
Their airy forms above,
Can thought pierce through the folds of gloom
That shroud all we did love.
But, lovely Shade! what fate denies,
The spirit can supply,
For, though with these dim mortal eyes
I see thee not on high,
Yet I can feel thy spirit near,
While I lone vigils keep,
And o'er past joys, too sadly dear,
In unseen sorrow weep.
The spirit can supply,
For, though with these dim mortal eyes
I see thee not on high,
Yet I can feel thy spirit near,
While I lone vigils keep,
And o'er past joys, too sadly dear,
In unseen sorrow weep.
Then hopes long lost again put on
Their radiant smiles and tears,
And raptured hours, long past and gone,
Come back and seem like years;
But when I muse alone on thee,
And think what joys were mine,
My heart sinks down in misery,
My love! my Emmeline!
Their radiant smiles and tears,
And raptured hours, long past and gone,
Come back and seem like years;
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And think what joys were mine,
My heart sinks down in misery,
My love! my Emmeline!
When thou wert living, though my fate,
Like thine, was dark and drear,
Yet life was not all desolate,
For thou, sweet One! wert near,
Sometimes our eyes could meet and tell
Our deathless love and grief,
And then our hearts in sorrow's swell
Felt something like relief.
Like thine, was dark and drear,
Yet life was not all desolate,
For thou, sweet One! wert near,
Sometimes our eyes could meet and tell
Our deathless love and grief,
And then our hearts in sorrow's swell
Felt something like relief.
Then, oh, it was my sole delight
To watch thy form afar,
And hear thee sing at fall of night
To hail the evening star:
What thoughts were then within thy heart
I knew full well by mine—
Alas! 'twas very hard to part
From thee, my Emmeline!
To watch thy form afar,
And hear thee sing at fall of night
To hail the evening star:
What thoughts were then within thy heart
I knew full well by mine—
Alas! 'twas very hard to part
From thee, my Emmeline!
But hearts that love the best must bleed,
For anguish is their lot,
Till from this world of sorrow freed,
Where pleasure dwelleth not;
And I went forth, by frenzy driven,
At that long, last farewell,
And felt like one accursed by heaven—
—But this I cannot tell!
For anguish is their lot,
Till from this world of sorrow freed,
Where pleasure dwelleth not;
And I went forth, by frenzy driven,
At that long, last farewell,
And felt like one accursed by heaven—
—But this I cannot tell!
My heart is like a dial now,
That points to other days—
A desert of perpetual snow,
Lit by no sunny rays;
I roam abroad this world of pain
Without a hope or joy,
O'er sea and land, o'er hill and plain,—
Thou'rt not beneath the sky!
That points to other days—
A desert of perpetual snow,
Lit by no sunny rays;
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Without a hope or joy,
O'er sea and land, o'er hill and plain,—
Thou'rt not beneath the sky!
Strange forms flit by me in my way,
I see them not; they are
Like shadows of some happier day,
The shades of some cold star,
That once shone bright but now hath gone
Far through the upper air—
Like thee, thou dear departed One!
Thou glory of despair!
I see them not; they are
Like shadows of some happier day,
The shades of some cold star,
That once shone bright but now hath gone
Far through the upper air—
Like thee, thou dear departed One!
Thou glory of despair!
Thou com'st to me in the still night,
And wearst thy smile of love—
And thou—dim image of delight!
Dwell'st far—how far! above!
—My heart shall be the sacred shrine,
Where love unseen doth burn,
Till I, like thee, my Emmeline!
Part never to return.
And wearst thy smile of love—
And thou—dim image of delight!
Dwell'st far—how far! above!
—My heart shall be the sacred shrine,
Where love unseen doth burn,
Till I, like thee, my Emmeline!
Part never to return.
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