Betwixt Two Seas Poems and Ballads (Written at Constantinople and Therapia). By Violet Fane [i.e. M. M. Lamb] |
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NEVER THE TIME |
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 | Betwixt Two Seas |  |
49
NEVER THE TIME
“Never the time, and the place,
And the lov'd one, all together!”
—Browning.
And the lov'd one, all together!”
—Browning.
“What! ‘never the time, and the place’ (did he say),
‘And the lov'd one, all together’?
(The grey-beard bard that has pass'd away),
Were he here, in this summer weather,—
Could he only have seen the moonbeam's sheen
Flash stars from these oars that feather,—
‘And the lov'd one, all together’?
(The grey-beard bard that has pass'd away),
Were he here, in this summer weather,—
Could he only have seen the moonbeam's sheen
Flash stars from these oars that feather,—
“Whilst over the breast of this murmuring stream,
—Past palace and castled-keep,
With no human sound to dispel the dream
Of a love that is wide and deep
As the silvery tide, we ripple and glide
With the rest of the world asleep:—
—Past palace and castled-keep,
With no human sound to dispel the dream
Of a love that is wide and deep
As the silvery tide, we ripple and glide
With the rest of the world asleep:—
50
“Had the voice of his rash repining ceased,
As he own'd in his words' despite,
That here, by some rare, sweet chance, at least,
Is the time, and the place, and the night,
With a love to bless, midst the strain and stress
That must come with the morning light?
As he own'd in his words' despite,
That here, by some rare, sweet chance, at least,
Is the time, and the place, and the night,
With a love to bless, midst the strain and stress
That must come with the morning light?
“Is there more to desire whatever betide
In the future all unguess'd?
We are hand in hand, we are side by side. . . .”
When, lo, as his hand I press'd,
I saw but the ghost of the one I lov'd most,
With a heart stone-cold in his breast!
In the future all unguess'd?
We are hand in hand, we are side by side. . . .”
When, lo, as his hand I press'd,
I saw but the ghost of the one I lov'd most,
With a heart stone-cold in his breast!
| Betwixt Two Seas | |