 | Voices and visions |  |
II
WHITE VIOLETS
While Hesper gemmed the ruby West,
And lulled was all the land,
You broke white violets from your breast,
You laid them in my hand.
‘Their poor pale ghosts,’ with sighs you said—
You said with shadowy tears,
‘Will haunt, long after they are dead,
The unalienating years!’
White violets, ah, white violets, love,
Whene'er I see them now,
Mysterious from their pallor steals
The beauty of your white brow!
And lulled was all the land,
You broke white violets from your breast,
You laid them in my hand.
‘Their poor pale ghosts,’ with sighs you said—
You said with shadowy tears,
‘Will haunt, long after they are dead,
The unalienating years!’
15
Whene'er I see them now,
Mysterious from their pallor steals
The beauty of your white brow!
I kissed the frail flowers one by one,
With pangs of speechless pain;
For me full many a future sun
Might shine, yet shine in vain!
For me, howe'er the altering scene
Should shift from dark to fair,
White violets must for ever mean
White memories of despair!
White violets, ah, white violets, love,
In hope's last long eclipse
The fragrance is but anguish, now,
That floats from their white lips!
With pangs of speechless pain;
For me full many a future sun
Might shine, yet shine in vain!
For me, howe'er the altering scene
Should shift from dark to fair,
White violets must for ever mean
White memories of despair!
White violets, ah, white violets, love,
In hope's last long eclipse
The fragrance is but anguish, now,
That floats from their white lips!
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