Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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LINES FROM “INEZ,” A MS. POEM. |
 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
LINES FROM “INEZ,” A MS. POEM.
Thou lov'st me, then! enough! it is enough;
For now, now smoothed seem life's fierce billows, rough:
Softened its harshest trials—lit and cleared
Its gloomiest depths—its very pains endeared
By that most royal knowledge!—clear and deep—
For all my soul as wealth divine to keep.
Oh! what a trust—a treasure—Love and thee,
To bless my soul's impassioned fervency!—
Oh! beatific consciousness!—Oh! thought!
With rich varieties of rapture fraught;
Oh! most illustrious knowledge—brightly shrined
Within the deep recesses of my mind!—
Crowned—proud—illustrious knowledge! height of bliss!—
My dreaming heart ne'er dreamt of joy like this!
I shrink, I tremble, troubled by the excess
Of my intense soul-dazzling happiness—
The sun is in my soul!—I cannot bear
The ethereal glory, and the unearthly glare;
I sink—I faint—before that joy's deep strength:
Oh! happiness, my life is thee at length!—
For now, now smoothed seem life's fierce billows, rough:
Softened its harshest trials—lit and cleared
Its gloomiest depths—its very pains endeared
442
For all my soul as wealth divine to keep.
Oh! what a trust—a treasure—Love and thee,
To bless my soul's impassioned fervency!—
Oh! beatific consciousness!—Oh! thought!
With rich varieties of rapture fraught;
Oh! most illustrious knowledge—brightly shrined
Within the deep recesses of my mind!—
Crowned—proud—illustrious knowledge! height of bliss!—
My dreaming heart ne'er dreamt of joy like this!
I shrink, I tremble, troubled by the excess
Of my intense soul-dazzling happiness—
The sun is in my soul!—I cannot bear
The ethereal glory, and the unearthly glare;
I sink—I faint—before that joy's deep strength:
Oh! happiness, my life is thee at length!—
Thou lov'st me, then? enough!—it is enough!—
My heart exults—as when from some deep trough
O'the yawning sea a labouring straining bark,
Up-climbs and gleams from out the shadows dark;
With its white sails; my heart now climbs the wave
Of joy and hope—raised, raised from Sorrow's grave,
Where long it slept in silence, fear, and gloom;
Oh! the wrung heart is its own hollow tomb!
But hence with every thought and dream of woe,
Why should its dull streams, with their gloomy flow,
Now mix with thy sweet fountain-waters, clear,
Oh! Happiness—that dwellest in beauty here!
When in the grasp of Sorrow we remain,
And bend beneath the load of grief and pain;
Not there one trace of fair Delight is found—
Not there, oh! Joy, dost thou come hovering round—
Thy brightness with her darkness deep to blend,
Thy smile serene to her stern mien to lend.
Then say, shall Sorrow come to interfere
With thy bright triumph now, and doubt and fear,
Upon her shadowing, darkly-sweeping wing
To dash thy stately cheer, presume to bring—
And 'twixt thy crowding raptures interpose
The dull, deep clouds and threatenings of her woes?
No; henee with every thought and dream of grief!—
When Summer comes, let not one shrivelled leaf
Remain to tell the story of the Past—
Nor breathe one whisper of the Winter's waste—
Grief! Joy ne'er comes to trouble thy stern reign,
Thou hold'st thine undisputed rule of pain!—
Thou shalt not cast one shadow o'er his light,
Nor weaken for one moment's space his might!—
My heart exults—as when from some deep trough
443
Up-climbs and gleams from out the shadows dark;
With its white sails; my heart now climbs the wave
Of joy and hope—raised, raised from Sorrow's grave,
Where long it slept in silence, fear, and gloom;
Oh! the wrung heart is its own hollow tomb!
But hence with every thought and dream of woe,
Why should its dull streams, with their gloomy flow,
Now mix with thy sweet fountain-waters, clear,
Oh! Happiness—that dwellest in beauty here!
When in the grasp of Sorrow we remain,
And bend beneath the load of grief and pain;
Not there one trace of fair Delight is found—
Not there, oh! Joy, dost thou come hovering round—
Thy brightness with her darkness deep to blend,
Thy smile serene to her stern mien to lend.
Then say, shall Sorrow come to interfere
With thy bright triumph now, and doubt and fear,
Upon her shadowing, darkly-sweeping wing
To dash thy stately cheer, presume to bring—
444
The dull, deep clouds and threatenings of her woes?
No; henee with every thought and dream of grief!—
When Summer comes, let not one shrivelled leaf
Remain to tell the story of the Past—
Nor breathe one whisper of the Winter's waste—
Grief! Joy ne'er comes to trouble thy stern reign,
Thou hold'st thine undisputed rule of pain!—
Thou shalt not cast one shadow o'er his light,
Nor weaken for one moment's space his might!—
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |