 | Passion-Flowers |  |
87
CORRESPONDENCE.
May I turn my musings to thee
In my wintry loneliness?
May my straggling measure woo thee,
May my deeper thought pursue thee,
Till thy sunlight, striking through me,
Pause to fertilize and bless?
In my wintry loneliness?
May my straggling measure woo thee,
May my deeper thought pursue thee,
Till thy sunlight, striking through me,
Pause to fertilize and bless?
Could I follow once this yearning,
Thoughts with thee to interweave,
Thou wouldst give me gentle learning,
Quick divining, deep discerning,
Counsel for the darkest turning
That the Fates unlettered leave.
Thoughts with thee to interweave,
Thou wouldst give me gentle learning,
Quick divining, deep discerning,
Counsel for the darkest turning
That the Fates unlettered leave.
I, methinks, could speak, unfearing
Fault or blemish to unfold,
Blots, the soul's deep beauty blearing,
Torturous scars, the frail heart searing—
In such wise and gracious hearing,
Life's arcana may be told.
Fault or blemish to unfold,
Blots, the soul's deep beauty blearing,
Torturous scars, the frail heart searing—
In such wise and gracious hearing,
Life's arcana may be told.
88
Yet the wish can scarce embolden
Timid thoughts to leave my breast;
Speech is silver, silence golden,
Says the adage wise and olden—
I to thee am so beholden,
I must give thee which is best.
Timid thoughts to leave my breast;
Speech is silver, silence golden,
Says the adage wise and olden—
I to thee am so beholden,
I must give thee which is best.
Didst thou ever model slightly
Plastic images of clay,
Touched with grace and feeling sprightly
That a moment might delight thee,
Not too good or precious rightly
To unmake and throw away?
Plastic images of clay,
Touched with grace and feeling sprightly
That a moment might delight thee,
Not too good or precious rightly
To unmake and throw away?
Hast thou ever paused, despairing,
At a block of Parian stone?
Life and form within thee bearing,
Dreams of Godlike beauty sharing,
Dimly hoping, faintly daring
To develop the unknown?
At a block of Parian stone?
Life and form within thee bearing,
Dreams of Godlike beauty sharing,
Dimly hoping, faintly daring
To develop the unknown?
With the powers immortal vying,
Like an infant armed with fate,
Not a blossom born for dying,
Not a song that ends with sighing,
But a presence, Time-defying,
Thou conceivest, to create.
Like an infant armed with fate,
Not a blossom born for dying,
Not a song that ends with sighing,
But a presence, Time-defying,
Thou conceivest, to create.
89
Not to bear ignoble traces
Hath this mountain crystal grown,
But that all celestial graces,
Shining out through marble faces,
Should make glad Earth's lonely places
With a glory of their own.
Hath this mountain crystal grown,
But that all celestial graces,
Shining out through marble faces,
Should make glad Earth's lonely places
With a glory of their own.
Friendships fragile and diurnal
I have wrought me in my time,
Out of sympathies most vernal,
Dreams that charm Life's childish journal,
Images of loves eternal
Broken in the play of Time.
I have wrought me in my time,
Out of sympathies most vernal,
Dreams that charm Life's childish journal,
Images of loves eternal
Broken in the play of Time.
But these gifts of Nature's lending
We should hold to permanence;
Loftier growths, more nearly bending,
Heart more nobly heart befriending,
Eyes that in their deepest blending
Cannot lose their heavenward glance.
We should hold to permanence;
Loftier growths, more nearly bending,
Heart more nobly heart befriending,
Eyes that in their deepest blending
Cannot lose their heavenward glance.
Fate's pure marble lies so whitely,
Formlessly, between us cast,
I have wrought and studied slightly—
Thou who knowest all things rightly,
From my heart's love, but not lightly,
Mould a Friendship that shall last.
Formlessly, between us cast,
I have wrought and studied slightly—
Thou who knowest all things rightly,
From my heart's love, but not lightly,
Mould a Friendship that shall last.
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