 | Passion-Flowers |  |
98
SYBIL.
Your head is wild with books, Sybil,
But your heart is good and kind—
I feel a new contentment near you,
A pleasure of the mind.
But your heart is good and kind—
I feel a new contentment near you,
A pleasure of the mind.
Glad should I be to sit beside you,
And let long hours glide by,
Reading, through all your sweet narrations,
The language of your eye.
And let long hours glide by,
Reading, through all your sweet narrations,
The language of your eye.
Since the maternal saint I worshipped
Did look and love her last,
No woman o'er my wayward spirit
Such gentle spell has cast.
Did look and love her last,
No woman o'er my wayward spirit
Such gentle spell has cast.
99
Oh! tell me of your varied fortunes,
For you know not from your face
Looks out strange sadness, lit with rapture,
And melancholy grace.
For you know not from your face
Looks out strange sadness, lit with rapture,
And melancholy grace.
You are a gem, whose native brilliance
Could never wholly reign;
An opal, whose prismatic fire
A white cloud doth restrain.
Could never wholly reign;
An opal, whose prismatic fire
A white cloud doth restrain.
And thus the mood to which you move me
Is never perfect, quite;
'Tis pity, wonderment, and pleasure,
Opacity and light.
Is never perfect, quite;
'Tis pity, wonderment, and pleasure,
Opacity and light.
Bear me then in your presence, Sybil,
And leave your hand in mine;
For, though human be my nature,
You've made it half divine.
And leave your hand in mine;
For, though human be my nature,
You've made it half divine.
| Passion-Flowers | |