 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
PALINGENESIA.
A lock of sunlight hair
In this old volume, and it seems as soft
And silken as when first I placed it there—
Tress gazed at fond and oft.
In this old volume, and it seems as soft
And silken as when first I placed it there—
Tress gazed at fond and oft.
Upon the embers—thus!
The flame devours the thing before my eyes;
So ends the past. What phantom vaporous
Do I see slowly rise?
The flame devours the thing before my eyes;
So ends the past. What phantom vaporous
Do I see slowly rise?
It sits in yonder chair—
The graceful figure in the kirtle blue,
The eyes of tempered steel, the golden hair,
That once so well I knew.
The graceful figure in the kirtle blue,
The eyes of tempered steel, the golden hair,
That once so well I knew.
Has she arisen then,
Spurning her cerements, from her narrow bed,
With all her arts to be admired of men—
Is not the sorceress dead?
Spurning her cerements, from her narrow bed,
With all her arts to be admired of men—
Is not the sorceress dead?
565
And with her rises now
The spirit-pangs and madness of my youth,
The throbbing heart, stirred soul, and aching brow,
And doubt of woman's truth.
The spirit-pangs and madness of my youth,
The throbbing heart, stirred soul, and aching brow,
And doubt of woman's truth.
Smile not as once you smiled;
Put off the beauty that in death was drowned;
Beguile me not as one time you beguiled,
Ere I your falsehood found.
Put off the beauty that in death was drowned;
Beguile me not as one time you beguiled,
Ere I your falsehood found.
Go! get you to your tomb!
Lie down amid your fellows' mouldering bones—
Your beauty born again fills me with gloom:
Silence those siren tones!
Lie down amid your fellows' mouldering bones—
Your beauty born again fills me with gloom:
Silence those siren tones!
The figure fades in air;
Dies on my ear a sweet, remorseful moan;
Before me I behold an empty chair—
I am once more alone.
Dies on my ear a sweet, remorseful moan;
Before me I behold an empty chair—
I am once more alone.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |