 | This, that and the other |  |
TO A PICTURE OF KATE.
Sometimes I dream of thee at night;
Thy wild brown eyes,
Thy phantom eyes,
Gaze on me with a live delight;
And then I feel my brow o'erblown
With tresses that must sure be thine.
In dreams I tremble to thy tone,
In dreams I dare to call thee mine;
While, gazing on me all the while,
Those wild brown eyes,
Those phantom eyes,
O'ersweep my spirit with a smile.
I know not where thou hadst thy birth;
But sure it was some country fair,
Set floating in the upper air,
Some region that was not of earth;
For nothing earthly ever shone
With half the splendor of thine eyes,
The pale moon treading on alone
(Though many an ocean silent lies
To gaze upon her calm, white face,
O'erswept by waves of golden hair,
And trancéd light, so heavenly fair)
Wears not one half thy spirit grace.
Thy wild brown eyes,
Thy phantom eyes,
Gaze on me with a live delight;
And then I feel my brow o'erblown
With tresses that must sure be thine.
In dreams I tremble to thy tone,
In dreams I dare to call thee mine;
While, gazing on me all the while,
Those wild brown eyes,
Those phantom eyes,
O'ersweep my spirit with a smile.
I know not where thou hadst thy birth;
But sure it was some country fair,
Set floating in the upper air,
Some region that was not of earth;
For nothing earthly ever shone
With half the splendor of thine eyes,
The pale moon treading on alone
(Though many an ocean silent lies
To gaze upon her calm, white face,
O'erswept by waves of golden hair,
And trancéd light, so heavenly fair)
Wears not one half thy spirit grace.
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I think of goddesses divine,
While gazing on thy lofty brow,
And can but whisper, soft and low,
“Sure, thou hast drunk immortal wine!”
And then I say a legen o'er
('T was told at twilight by my sire,
As, with his tresses long and hoar,
He sat beside the drift-wood fire),
How, many a lonesome year ago,
When summer's soft and balmy smile
Lay warm upon the Ægean isle,
The Grecian gods kept court below.
And when upon the southern sea
The night came down with shadows long,
And snowy swans began their song
Of sad and plainéd melody,
Methought the gods, who there had striven
In pleasant pastimes all the day,
Went up on cloudy stairs to heaven,
And left thee, wearied with thy play,
Within a southern grove of balm,
A sleeping, with thy phantom eyes
Half-closed beneath the watching skies,
Like some fair statue, tranced in calm!
And, when I dream of thee at night,
Thy wild brown eyes,
Thy phantom eyes,
Oft wear a glory to my sight,
As if but now thou didst awake
From sleeping by Thessalian streams,
While gazing on thy lofty brow,
And can but whisper, soft and low,
“Sure, thou hast drunk immortal wine!”
And then I say a legen o'er
('T was told at twilight by my sire,
As, with his tresses long and hoar,
He sat beside the drift-wood fire),
How, many a lonesome year ago,
When summer's soft and balmy smile
Lay warm upon the Ægean isle,
The Grecian gods kept court below.
And when upon the southern sea
The night came down with shadows long,
And snowy swans began their song
Of sad and plainéd melody,
Methought the gods, who there had striven
In pleasant pastimes all the day,
Went up on cloudy stairs to heaven,
And left thee, wearied with thy play,
Within a southern grove of balm,
A sleeping, with thy phantom eyes
Half-closed beneath the watching skies,
Like some fair statue, tranced in calm!
And, when I dream of thee at night,
Thy wild brown eyes,
Thy phantom eyes,
Oft wear a glory to my sight,
As if but now thou didst awake
From sleeping by Thessalian streams,
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Where not a breeze had dared to break
The silence of thy charméd dreams;
And, gazing on me all the while,
Those wild brown eyes,
Those phantom eyes,
Thrill all my spirit to their smile!
The silence of thy charméd dreams;
And, gazing on me all the while,
Those wild brown eyes,
Those phantom eyes,
Thrill all my spirit to their smile!
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