 | Verses of a life time |  |
193
WHAT WOKE ME FROM MY DREAM?
I slept. From yonder mansion's glittering hall
Arose rich music; on my dream it fell,
As ocean-murmurs in their slumberous call
Within the bosom of a sleeping shell.
Arose rich music; on my dream it fell,
As ocean-murmurs in their slumberous call
Within the bosom of a sleeping shell.
I saw the glancing foot, the rounded arm,
The eye's soft raising, and the shadowy curl;
The modest, yielding, half-reluctant charm,
The meek luxuriance of the graceful girl.
The eye's soft raising, and the shadowy curl;
The modest, yielding, half-reluctant charm,
The meek luxuriance of the graceful girl.
I saw her partner's deferential gaze,
The chastened gentleness of manly pride,
The offered hand, that, through the dance's maze,
Seemed made to lead, to cherish, and to guide.
The chastened gentleness of manly pride,
The offered hand, that, through the dance's maze,
Seemed made to lead, to cherish, and to guide.
The sight was beautiful, nor wrong to me.—
Thus, thought I, God doth deck the lily fair,
Tinges the foliage on the stalworth tree,
And wakes gay carols through the summer air.
Thus, thought I, God doth deck the lily fair,
Tinges the foliage on the stalworth tree,
And wakes gay carols through the summer air.
194
But hark! a cry comes o'er my gentle sleep,—
Wild maniac yelling and the vulgar song;
The bacchanalian shout, the curses deep,
The drunken revel of that manly throng!
Wild maniac yelling and the vulgar song;
The bacchanalian shout, the curses deep,
The drunken revel of that manly throng!
Once, my loved city, on thy sandy shore,
The red man's war-cry broke the sleeper's rest;
And the gaunt wolf, with hunger-baited roar,
Scared the young infant on its mother's breast.
The red man's war-cry broke the sleeper's rest;
And the gaunt wolf, with hunger-baited roar,
Scared the young infant on its mother's breast.
'T was better thus;—better the savage yell,
Softer the wolf-howl breaking slumber's dream,
Than on the ear of night, with orgies fell,
The polished revellers' mad and brutish scream.
Softer the wolf-howl breaking slumber's dream,
Than on the ear of night, with orgies fell,
The polished revellers' mad and brutish scream.
Charleston, S. C. 1845.
| Verses of a life time | |