 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
364
THE CROWDED HALL.
I hasten to the crowded Hall on Pleasure's festive night,
Dark is the shadowy World within—let the World without be bright—
Yes! I will join the glittering crowd—mix in the smiling train—
A truce to memory and to fear—to passion and its pain!
Dark is the shadowy World within—let the World without be bright—
Yes! I will join the glittering crowd—mix in the smiling train—
A truce to memory and to fear—to passion and its pain!
Their proud joy now shall be my joy and I will feel with them,
They who come shining, smiling forth with the garland and the gem,
I too will snatch the flower from Spring in its first blush of birth,
And I will ask its jewels too of this our gloomy Earth.
They who come shining, smiling forth with the garland and the gem,
I too will snatch the flower from Spring in its first blush of birth,
And I will ask its jewels too of this our gloomy Earth.
And I will echo back the laugh—reflect the sunny smile,
And dream that I am glad and free and careless too the while,
I will with watchful zeal thus play my part too with the rest,
Shall the heartless and the false, ere read deep Truth's and Feeling's breast?
And dream that I am glad and free and careless too the while,
365
Shall the heartless and the false, ere read deep Truth's and Feeling's breast?
I stand now 'mongst the crushing crowd together and apart,
I listen to the clamouring crowd, and answer mine own heart,
And have I gained mine end in sooth, and gained my darling aim—
Nor have I lost, nor wholly won—another and the same!
I listen to the clamouring crowd, and answer mine own heart,
And have I gained mine end in sooth, and gained my darling aim—
Nor have I lost, nor wholly won—another and the same!
On the bounding waves of Pleasure borne that pale Star still I mark,
Without which all for me is drear, and clouded o'er anddark,
And yet that pale Star well I know but lures me to my fate,
My bark tempts ruin still, with all, its hopes a costly freight!
Without which all for me is drear, and clouded o'er anddark,
And yet that pale Star well I know but lures me to my fate,
My bark tempts ruin still, with all, its hopes a costly freight!
But hence, vain thoughts, the sparkle now the foam wreath and the spray,
Attract my eye and brightly charm my lingering fears away—
I smile at mine own sorrowing heart, 'tis gladdened and 'tis grieved,
And almost hates itself that thus hath Pleasure's stamp received.
Attract my eye and brightly charm my lingering fears away—
366
And almost hates itself that thus hath Pleasure's stamp received.
No more am I the mourner now—yet e'en while I rejoice,
That full heart lifteth faintly up its never-silent voice,
And tossed 'twixt Pleasure and 'twixt Pain like some wind shaken flame,
Abide I 'midst the Revellers—another and the same!
That full heart lifteth faintly up its never-silent voice,
And tossed 'twixt Pleasure and 'twixt Pain like some wind shaken flame,
Abide I 'midst the Revellers—another and the same!
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