University of Virginia Library


283

[Why should I strive to express it?]

Why should I strive to express it?
What should I care?
Ye will not know nor confess it
How she was fair.
Fades the song ere I begin it,
Falters and dies:—
Ah! had you seen her a minute,—
Looked in her eyes!
When she and I shall be lying
Dust at your feet,
Hours such as these shall be flying,
Life be as sweet,—
Women as lovely hereafter,
Tender and wise,
Born with her bloom and her laughter,—
Not with her eyes!