Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes |
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LEA'S BRIDAL DAY. |
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 | Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems |  |
LEA'S BRIDAL DAY.
I
“To-morrow is my bridal day,” the lovely Lea cries,And gazes from her casement on the calm and starry skies;
“To-morrow is my bridal day, and I shall bid farewell,
“To the home so very dear to me, where my little sisters dwell.
“Oh! bring my bridal garments here, such thoughts will make me weep;
“The showy robe—the jewell'd chain—I'll see them ere I sleep;
“And come, my little sisters, kneel beside me while I pray;
“Why are my spirits thus depress'd, so near my bridal day?”
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II
The night is past—and Lea stands before the casement now,Her hands press back the raven curls from off her marble brow.
She gazes like a trembling child, by midnight visions scared,
For some inevitable ill, some coming grief, prepared!
Her sisters bring her bridal robe, her jewels, and her wreath,
She heeds them not, but watches still the path across the heath:
They tell her it is time to dress, she motions them away,
And whispers: “Let me have my will upon my bridal day.”
III
It is the bridal hour, and the guests are at the gate;What gloom pervades the festival? the bridegroom is too late!
The bridemaids in their gayest robes are all assembled there;
But the bride is pale and unadorned—the statue of despair!
“He comes! he comes!” at length she cries, “I have not watch'd in vain!”
They bear a lifeless bridegroom in, and by his rival slain:
A bride scarce living waits for him—“The rites no more delay,
“I dying plight my troth to him—'tis still my bridal day!”
| Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | |