 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
TO THE LADY OPPOSITE
I wish the girl would move away—
Why need she all the while
Sit beaming at her window seat
With that eternal smile?
'Tis very strange, and very odd,
And very like a plan,
With such a look and such an air
And I a single man!
Why need she all the while
Sit beaming at her window seat
With that eternal smile?
'Tis very strange, and very odd,
And very like a plan,
With such a look and such an air
And I a single man!
There sat she like a seraph chained
In morning's earliest flame,
And there she leaned upon her hand
When crimson sunset came,
And there she was at twilight hour—
I saw the shutters close,
How slowly as with vain regret
They folded up my rose!
In morning's earliest flame,
And there she leaned upon her hand
When crimson sunset came,
And there she was at twilight hour—
I saw the shutters close,
How slowly as with vain regret
They folded up my rose!
I know her mother thinks it wrong—
I know mama is right—
I know a matron and a maid
Declare she is a fright—
I know what many folks would think—
I know what some will say—
I know all this, and yet, ah yet
I cannot keep away.
I know mama is right—
I know a matron and a maid
Declare she is a fright—
I know what many folks would think—
I know what some will say—
I know all this, and yet, ah yet
I cannot keep away.
And I will sit, mysterious maid,
And watch by morning sun,
And fondly gaze through mist and shade
When the fair day is done,
And love the lips—the rosy lips
That ne'er to me have spoken,
And wear the chain that silence wove
And words have never broken.
And watch by morning sun,
And fondly gaze through mist and shade
When the fair day is done,
And love the lips—the rosy lips
That ne'er to me have spoken,
And wear the chain that silence wove
And words have never broken.
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |