Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

I gazed upon her silent face
But Death had rested there;
And on her marble cheek I dropt
A heart-wrung burning tear:
And every breast was sobbing loud
Within that mournful cot,—
I thought my bleeding heart would break,
But, ah! they knew me not.

165

II

I saw her fallen eye-lids shade
Those orbs of deepest blue,
That beamed a welcome when we met
Where dark trees closely grew;
Unbound her auburn ringlets lay—
Nor had I then forgot
How once I stole a braided tress,—
But ah! they knew me not.

III

I saw those lips I oft had kissed,
Like folded roses lie;
I gazed upon her cold white breast,
And heaved a deep, deep sigh.
I thought when last that bosom beat,
While seated in her grot,
And I recalled my broken vow,—
But, ah! they knew me not.

166

IV

I bent to kiss her placid brow:
All eyes on me did gaze,
Save those which had for ever closed
Their bright and piercing rays:
I saw them strew around her bier
Wild flowers, and knew the spot
Where once they bloomed—I saw no more—
But, ah! they knew me not.