University of Virginia Library

[The frenzy of a lover who can tell?]

The frenzy of a lover who can tell?
The glow and flush of feeling, when the eye
Dilates o'er beauty, and the burning sigh
Heaves deep, and strong, and frequent, from the swell
Of hearts o'erwrought to rapture,—who can give
The colors to the canvas, that portray,
On cheek, and lip, and brow, the changeful play
Of hope, despair, of ecstasy and pain
Too keen for common hearts to feel and live,
The long, long wish to meet those eyes again,
The disappointed hope deferred, till all
Is hung around with doubt's funereal pall,
And darkness veils the spirit, like the gloom
Thrown in embodied blackness from the tomb?
O, there are feelings which no tongue hath power
To utter, which come o'er him at the hour
When looks of kindness flash into his soul,
And tones that tell affection greet his ear,
And sweet smiles answer, when she leans to hear
His whispered heart! O, then their feelings roll
Wild as the ocean, when the winds have blown
Madly, but now the tempest far has flown,
And on the curling foam, and bursting wave,
The sun in all his pomp of brightness glows,
And stars and flakes of liquid lightning pave
The clefted billows, where they rush and rave
Around the vessel, as she proudly goes,
Leaping impetuous on, from surge to surge,
Like coursers whom the calls of battle urge
Onward, with quivering bound and flashing eye,
To mingle in the thickest fight, and die.