 | The silver bridge and other poems |  |
113
ADVICE.
He has told you the same old story
Told ever anew by wooers—
The story of pure devotion
Unchanging while life endures—
This passionate, palpitating,
Persistent lover of yours?
Told ever anew by wooers—
The story of pure devotion
Unchanging while life endures—
This passionate, palpitating,
Persistent lover of yours?
He has called you by every title
Which lovers love to repeat—
A queen, a goddess, an angel,
With changes tender and sweet,
And laid the troublesome treasure
Men call a heart at your feet?
Which lovers love to repeat—
A queen, a goddess, an angel,
With changes tender and sweet,
And laid the troublesome treasure
Men call a heart at your feet?
You ask me what you shall answer?
Ah, child, could my counsel throw
The weight of a thought against him?
Love never hesitates so!
Answer him No, fair doubter,
Forever and ever No!
Ah, child, could my counsel throw
The weight of a thought against him?
Love never hesitates so!
Answer him No, fair doubter,
Forever and ever No!
114
There lives a marvellous insect
In the southern meadows far,
Where the wild white ipomeas
And the passion-flowers are,
That even in broad bright daylight
Gleams like a living star.
In the southern meadows far,
Where the wild white ipomeas
And the passion-flowers are,
That even in broad bright daylight
Gleams like a living star.
It circles, a flying jewel,
Beautiful to behold,—
It settles to rest a moment—
A globule of molten gold;
But once in the hand imprisoned,
Its color grows dim and cold;
Beautiful to behold,—
It settles to rest a moment—
A globule of molten gold;
But once in the hand imprisoned,
Its color grows dim and cold;
You grasp at a flashing jewel
Worthy a monarch's crown,
Glistening, darting, glancing
And glittering up and down,
And capture—a sharded beetle,
Sluggish and dull and brown!
Worthy a monarch's crown,
Glistening, darting, glancing
And glittering up and down,
And capture—a sharded beetle,
Sluggish and dull and brown!
And thus, to a youth's mad fancy
Is the object of love's wild quest—
Reckoned above all blessings
Dearest and first and best
So long as remote and elusive—
But worthless when once possessed.
Is the object of love's wild quest—
Reckoned above all blessings
Dearest and first and best
So long as remote and elusive—
But worthless when once possessed.
115
For weariness comes of having,
When happiness means pursuit,
And love grows dwarfish and stinted
And bears but a bitter fruit
When the serpent of self forever
Is coiling about its root.
When happiness means pursuit,
And love grows dwarfish and stinted
And bears but a bitter fruit
When the serpent of self forever
Is coiling about its root.
So lips which have met in kisses
Grow chary of tender speech—
So hearts which are bound together
Grow burdensome each to each,
Since the only things men value
Are those which they cannot reach.
Grow chary of tender speech—
So hearts which are bound together
Grow burdensome each to each,
Since the only things men value
Are those which they cannot reach.
Who cares for the roadside roses
Which grow within grasp of all,
While their inaccessible sisters,
Less lovely and sweet and tall,
But dearer because of their distance,—
Lean over the garden wall?
Which grow within grasp of all,
While their inaccessible sisters,
Less lovely and sweet and tall,
But dearer because of their distance,—
Lean over the garden wall?
So the gainer counts as nothing
The blessing that should have been—
The conqueror turns indifferent
From the conquest he gloried in,
Longing, like Alexander,
For lovelier worlds to win.
The blessing that should have been—
The conqueror turns indifferent
From the conquest he gloried in,
Longing, like Alexander,
For lovelier worlds to win.
116
Then answer him No, young maiden,—
Be pitiless and serene;
There are heart-sick wives in plenty,
But angels are seldom seen;
Keep to your cloud, bright goddess!
Stay on your throne, fair queen!
Be pitiless and serene;
There are heart-sick wives in plenty,
But angels are seldom seen;
Keep to your cloud, bright goddess!
Stay on your throne, fair queen!
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