 | Poems |  |
23
TO ------
There is a hollow in the wood,
Where latticed boughs let in the blue;
There, in a peopled solitude,
I lay and dreamed of heaven and you.
Where latticed boughs let in the blue;
There, in a peopled solitude,
I lay and dreamed of heaven and you.
Deep in the blue-bells and the fern
Lying I watched the moving spring,
Beside the still pool mused the heron,
And swallows paused on eager wing.
Lying I watched the moving spring,
Beside the still pool mused the heron,
And swallows paused on eager wing.
Above the thorn the pigeon made
Sweet music for his mate and me;
And here a shining eye betrayed
The soft thrush and her family.
Sweet music for his mate and me;
And here a shining eye betrayed
The soft thrush and her family.
24
The squirrel, comically wise,
Pondered and leapt among the elms;
And underneath my very eyes
The rat surveyed his watery realms.
Pondered and leapt among the elms;
And underneath my very eyes
The rat surveyed his watery realms.
I longed to handle and explore,
I feared to move or hand or limb;
I could but lie and gaze the more,
And dream till I was one with them.
I feared to move or hand or limb;
I could but lie and gaze the more,
And dream till I was one with them.
So, thou in thy world, I in mine,
Together and yet far away,
Dwelt in the golden glad sunshine,
And thou wert shy and free as they.
Together and yet far away,
Dwelt in the golden glad sunshine,
And thou wert shy and free as they.
We talked on long forgotten days,
We roamed the realms of act and song
Together through the starlit ways
That wind our forest glades among.
We roamed the realms of act and song
Together through the starlit ways
That wind our forest glades among.
25
We strained into the misty hills
That viewless limited our view;
Nor dreamed you of the maze of ills,
That I had known who ventured through.
That viewless limited our view;
Nor dreamed you of the maze of ills,
That I had known who ventured through.
So waiting on thine every mood,
Till all thy thoughts were linked with me,
I let no curious words intrude,
But won thy love by loving thee.
Till all thy thoughts were linked with me,
I let no curious words intrude,
But won thy love by loving thee.
We walk by faith and not by sight,
Save when a perfect love is given,
To half unfold the doors of light,
And flash to earth a ray of heaven.
Save when a perfect love is given,
To half unfold the doors of light,
And flash to earth a ray of heaven.
The wisdom others learn in books,
With summer suns and midnight oil,
I read in all thy laughing looks,
I read, nor deemed the lesson toil.
With summer suns and midnight oil,
I read in all thy laughing looks,
I read, nor deemed the lesson toil.
26
Thy eyes whose blue the gazer drowned,
Thy locks of mingled dark and fair,
Thy step that lightened all the ground,—
It was not these that chained me there.
Thy locks of mingled dark and fair,
Thy step that lightened all the ground,—
It was not these that chained me there.
The frolic grace, the nature free,
That in each varying humour shone,
Showed me a creature rare to see,
To evil and remorse unknown.
That in each varying humour shone,
Showed me a creature rare to see,
To evil and remorse unknown.
A death has blackened all the earth,
First of our lights it took away,
Sweet smiling heaven-descended mirth,
And darkened half life's little day.
First of our lights it took away,
Sweet smiling heaven-descended mirth,
And darkened half life's little day.
God gave us careless hearts and free,
But we how knowledge tastes would learn;
Touch not, O youth, the tempting tree,
Its fruit will make thy forehead stern.
But we how knowledge tastes would learn;
Touch not, O youth, the tempting tree,
Its fruit will make thy forehead stern.
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