 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
488
THE FADING IMAGE.
Oh! loved as thou art lovely—to excess—
Why dost thou leave me to this long distress,
This agony of absence—which destroys
All hope, and leaves but memory of past joys.
Why dost thou leave me to this long distress,
This agony of absence—which destroys
All hope, and leaves but memory of past joys.
O'er thy remembered Image still I hang,
It is a pleasure, yet too like a pang—
And in my heart of hearts I watch to trace
The Beauty of thy Form and of thy Face.
It is a pleasure, yet too like a pang—
And in my heart of hearts I watch to trace
The Beauty of thy Form and of thy Face.
But fainter grows that Image day by day,
Not that my love is fainter—but dismay,
And doubt, and weariness, and grief, and dread,
A cloud of gloom o'er brain and spirit spread.
Not that my love is fainter—but dismay,
And doubt, and weariness, and grief, and dread,
A cloud of gloom o'er brain and spirit spread.
489
Not that my love is fainter—Oh! not so,
Its deepest life seems fed by thoughtful woe,
But Memory's skill is weakened by distress—
All is confusion—all is bitterness.
Its deepest life seems fed by thoughtful woe,
But Memory's skill is weakened by distress—
All is confusion—all is bitterness.
Yes! hopelessness hath fallen with heavy chill
On Memory's earnest zeal and marred her skill,
A deadly languor, cold and dull and slow,
Hath checked and palsied every effort now!
On Memory's earnest zeal and marred her skill,
A deadly languor, cold and dull and slow,
Hath checked and palsied every effort now!
I see that Image darkening day by day,
And fading, passing, mournfully away,
I seek to arrest it still, the power is gone!
The Eternal effort hath itself undone!
And fading, passing, mournfully away,
I seek to arrest it still, the power is gone!
The Eternal effort hath itself undone!
Return! Oh! but return to me again—
Give me thyself—and banish fear and pain—
'Stead of this faded Image shadowed o'er—
Give me the bright Original once more!
Give me thyself—and banish fear and pain—
'Stead of this faded Image shadowed o'er—
Give me the bright Original once more!
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