Idyls and Songs by Francis Turner Palgrave: 1848-1854 |
 |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| XII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
 | XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
| XXXI. |
| XXXII. |
| XXXIII. |
| XXXIV. |
| XXXV. |
| XXXVI. |
| XXXVII. |
| XXXVIII. |
| XXXIX. |
| XL. |
| XLI. |
| XLII. |
| XLIII. |
| XLIV. |
| XLV. |
| XLVI. |
| XLVII. |
| XLIX. |
| L. |
| LI. |
| LII. |
| LIII. |
| LIV. |
| LV. |
| LVI. |
| LVII. |
| LVIII. |
| LIX. |
| LX. |
| LXI. |
| LXIII. |
| LXIII. |
| LXIV. |
| LXV. |
| LXVI. |
| LXVII. |
| LXVIII. |
| LXIX. |
| LXX. |
| LXXI. |
| LXXII. |
| LXXIII. |
| LXXIV. |
| LXXV. |
| LXXVI. |
| LXXVII. |
| LXXVIII. |
| LXXIX. |
| LXXX. | LXXX.
ABSENCE. |
| LXXXII. |
 | Idyls and Songs |  |
169
LXXX. ABSENCE.
‘I cannot but remember such things were,
That were most precious to me.’
That were most precious to me.’
I
I knew thy love could not increase,For it had reach'd its prime:
I had no fear Love's flower would sere,
Shrunk by the touch of Time.
II
I knew that Birth had cast our lot,Had twined our thread in one:
How then should Time unloose the knot
A higher Fate had spun?
III
I said The common birth of LoveHis common end foreshews:
A hasty sight—a quick delight—
A sudden stroke may close.
IV
Our love on firmer bases setSuch transience may defy:
In life's first morn with us 'twas born:
With us alone may die.
V
Beneath its healthful shade we grew,Each intertwined with each:
I sought not signs to show thee true,
Or coarser proof of speech.
170
VI
Mine were the treasures of thy love,The blessing of thy sight:
I ask'd not joys around, above,
Secure in such delight.
VII
Mine was the guidance of thy tongue:Thy thoughts to mine were known:—
—Another's ear thy voice may hear,
And rob me of mine own.
VIII
Was it my sin that I should loveThe loving and true-hearted:
Though now the curse than death be worse
That holds the living parted?
IX
Was it my sin that I should buildA home for hope on thee:
Though now the hope rest unfulfill'd,
The home deserted be?
X
—Thou saidst: I go: yet space may bindNear household ties yet nearer:
I go: yet absence hours shall find
Dear hearts to dear hearts dearer.
XI
—I would not say that Hope and LoveWith frailness are infected:
To mortal laws, though born above,
To Time and space subjected.
XII
Who would not hide the change he feelsAs days to years advance:
Or barter truth that Time reveals,
For happier ignorance?
171
XIII
This is my deepest source of pain:I cannot see thy face:
That long horizons part us twain:
Blue pathless tracts of space.
XIV
That hearts dislink'd to dearer loveAnd deeper knowledge grow not:
I know it not, if Love be dead:
And if he lives, I know not.
XV
In written words what solace lies,What interchange of heart?
—Almost I said: Would one were dead!
If life from life must part.
XVI
—I fret myself with thoughts untrue:I cannot wish 'twere so:
The thought may rise: 'twill end in sighs:
In silence pass and go.
XVII
—I said: Desires and hopes are vainWhat must Remembrance be?
I said: 'Twere better to restrain
The soul from thoughts of thee.
XVIII
My heart in patient calm is set,Whate'er the future brings:
Why should I weep for joys that sleep
With dead forgotten things?
XIX
Dear friendly tongues their counsel addIn happy self-deceiving:
Alas! the counsels of the glad
Can never aid the grieving.
172
XX
—I dare not thrust the Past aside,Or bid remembrance flee:
Such sweetness to such grief allied
Is in the thought of thee.
XXI
I dare not set the touch of scornOn vanish'd hours of pleasure:
Or disesteem in thought or dream
Th' irrevocable treasure.
XXII
A sweetness lingers undisplacedThat ruin'd Past above:
A shrine by Love's own hand defaced,
Yet sacred still to Love.
XXIII
E'en though the fretful dust of lifeHeap o'er the fond regret:
Yet Sleep unsought restores the thought
That daylight could forget.
XXIV
Her spells a breath of old reliefWaft o'er the soul again:
Or lend a shade to waking grief,
A purer depth of pain.
XXV
I see th' authentic vision riseBright in the bloom of youth:
I catch the light of eager eyes,
The levell'd glance of truth.
XXVI
I feel thy fingers clasp'd in mine:A touch of loyal greeting:
A transient touch, that gives no sign
Of a long sigh'd for meeting.
173
XXVII
On trivial cares thy accents dwell,And walk in common ways:
Alas! no tones of fear foretel
The wrong of coming days.
XXVIII
Time's creeping interspace appearsSwift as an arrow's flight:—
—Ah that the sum of lingering years
Could win thee to our sight.—
XXIX
—My lips with unrelieving wordsAn idle dalliance hold:—
—I wake: the thought that sleep had brought
Lies weak and still and cold.
XXX
With signs of thee the room is rife,A sad remindful scene:
The relics of thy daily life,
And where thy feet have been.
XXXI
The day wears on: the toil, the fretNo inner solace brings:
While grief her affluent source hath set
Deep in the heart of things.
XXXII
—Yet on my soul this throng of thingsA touch of fear hath laid:
Lest thoughts of thee should waste and flee:
Lest thy remembrance fade.
XXXIII
I know the phantom bliss of nightMust leave the heart still aching:—
—Yet worse the vacant stir of light,
The joyless joys of waking.
174
XXXIV
I'd give the morning for the nightE'en through such hours to be
Loosed from the chain of action vain
Alone with thoughts of thee.
| Idyls and Songs | |