 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
CANZONE.—IF THOU COULD'ST SEE THE TEARS!
I.
If thou could'st see the tears,That I so long have shed for thee;
If thou could'st know the fears
My thoughts have hourly bred for thee;
If thou could'st dream of all I've done
To make thy lot in life more bright,
Thou would'st not, could'st not dare to shun
My gaze to-night!
II.
I watch thee through the festive hall,The fairest in the spacious round,
Where all is sweet to sight—where all
Is more than exquisite in sound;
My glance is never from thy brow,
And, in the whirling dance, alone
Of all the crowd I see thee now—
The only one!
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III.
Without a thought on him who standsFrom all that festive throng apart—
Whose thought, afar—in foreign lands—
Those foreign lands, thy heart, thy heart!—
Thou glid'st among the insensate crew,
And speak'st the idle language there,
And smil'st, and wear'st the features, too,
Thou should'st not wear!
IV.
I come not now to tell thee aughtOf all my sad and lonely hours;
Be free of censure—free of thought;
Sport, if thou canst, with silliest flowers;
Be bless'd—be happy—if, perchance,
Thou hast sufficient heart for bliss;
I will not blight thee with a glance,
So fell as this!
V.
Away! away! yet whither fly?No aim or purpose guides me now—
My bark must take what sea or sky
Shall wing or warp her wandering prow!
On to the ocean's dreadest deep,
Where Cunning holds her crowded mart,
And pain, that dies not, still must keep
Close in the heart!
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |