The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe Household Edition : with illustrations |
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TO A BEAUTIFUL STRANGER. |
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 | The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe |  |
89
TO A BEAUTIFUL STRANGER.
A glance, a smile,—I see it yet!
A moment ere the train was starting;
How strange to tell! we scarcely met,
And yet I felt a pang at parting
A moment ere the train was starting;
How strange to tell! we scarcely met,
And yet I felt a pang at parting
And you, (alas! that all the while
'T is I alone who am confessing!)
What thought was lurking in your smile
Is quite beyond my simple guessing.
'T is I alone who am confessing!)
What thought was lurking in your smile
Is quite beyond my simple guessing.
I only know those beaming rays
Awoke in me a strange emotion,
Which, basking in their warmer blaze,
Perhaps might kindle to devotion.
Awoke in me a strange emotion,
Which, basking in their warmer blaze,
Perhaps might kindle to devotion.
Ah! many a heart as stanch as this,
By smiling lips allured from Duty,
Has sunk in Passion's dark abyss,—
“Wrecked on the coral reefs of Beauty!”
By smiling lips allured from Duty,
Has sunk in Passion's dark abyss,—
“Wrecked on the coral reefs of Beauty!”
And so, 't is well the train's swift flight
That bore away my charming stranger
Took her—God bless her!—out of sight,
And me, as quickly, out of danger!
That bore away my charming stranger
Took her—God bless her!—out of sight,
And me, as quickly, out of danger!
| The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe | |