 | Maiden Ecstasy |  |
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THE MAID OF SONG.
I
When Autumn leaves are crisp and dry,And hop like famished sparrows o'er the grass;
When murky streams, turned noiselessly awry,
Round little icebergs pass;
When hungry winds creep stealthily along
And paw the shivering rushes,—wooded dale
Hears not the Maid of Song;
Mute in the silence of the nightingale.
II
But when the passage birds of SpringBurst like warm winds into the melting wood,
That thaws to hanging verdure while they sing
To earn love's livelihood,
88
Her passion-notes, and covers the blank day
With sweetly trilling peals,
As flowers drop off the early blossomed May.
III
She loves her voice, the trees shall lendTo it their leafy ears; the shaking bough,
As 'neath the weight of singing-bird, shall bend:
It seeks of them no vow;
No heart but hers its ceaseless ringing saps:
She has no nest whereof to guard the keep;
When her tired notes relapse,
They break not on her mate's enchanted sleep.
IV
She knew 'twas love so wildly sprangFrom her heart's voice; so must no other hear
Her secret: even the while she softly sang
She ofttimes stopped in fear.
As of the birds that build from chirp of morn,
'Mid sounds of bliss, their concert-woven nest,
Her love was virgin born—
The first full passion of her childish breast.
89
V
As one who errs, and, unreprieved,Prays with all passion, so her voice implores;
It seems the lark's into blue mists received,
While heaven a song outpours.
With arms put forth, that fondly nurse her lyre,
With fingers dripping music on the strings,
With eyes of first desire
And face half turned above, she sweetly sings.
VI
Then doth she skip, as when at playA child may see a child it wished to meet,
And hastes along, still humming on the way,
Her echo-voice to greet,
Chanting as o'er a lake her beauty skims,
For there a fond-faced sister-siren floats,
And, while the flood it swims,
Echoes to her her gurgling water-notes.
VII
She sings—‘When come the merry timesYou shall be wedded too, my sister sweet,
And to a lover's song give back the chimes
That vow for vow repeat.’
90
Her notes break off from endless song, and stop;
Her shining eyes are dulled;
Through too much love her resting eyelids drop.
VIII
On evening's brink the noontide closed,But o'er her sloped in sunbeams manifold,
As her soul's image on her face reposed;
Yet she her secret told,
For, while she slept, she sang no more unheard;
Her lover all her lonesome wanderings knew,
And watched her, as a bird
Would watch his mate, the love-long season through.
IX
His lifted footsteps towards her creepThat the crisp sod may not betray his tread;
Smiling he stops, and overlooks her sleep,
His hands above her spread.
He deems her his, caught in her lonely nest,
Yet stands he thus apart, in watchful trance,
Awed into rigid rest;
Fain to go back, fain further to advance.
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X
Feebler her voice, her dreams among,It runs in broken strains, but to the close,
From where the water echoed back her song,
Her secret overflows.
He gleans more love the while her coyness sleeps,
Than maid e'er uttered with her eyes awake,
And his heart wildly leaps,
Dreading a listener may her slumber break.
XI
She starts from sleep, in self-surprise;The love-dream on her cheeks had left its flush;
Fondly she hopes 'twas this disturbed her eyes,
Her hand put o'er her blush.
She struggles, with a faltering innocence,
To veil her love, despite the trembling fears
That song had ruled her sense;
For the last notes wind through her conscious ears.
XII
He holds his hands, as o'er a cage,With the bird-snarer's smile and aspect droll:
He has her love; she feigns a maiden's rage—
But he has caught her soul.
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So weak she seems—her soul so surely his,
While her own words he sings,
With voice that doubts not of its present bliss.
XIII
The secret words her lips had sungHe sings again; he tells her how the boughs,
Whose leaves had with her love-confession rung,
Still echo back her vows;
Tells her the water that her image held
Has caught her siren-melody by rote,
And, with its gurgle swelled,
Murmurs again the warblings of her throat.
XIV
She all denies, though now she findsHer secret known—in all its song arrayed;
Told by the woods, the waters, and the winds,
Which have her love betrayed.
She all denies, but he the louder sings,
Until he lifts her voice to song again:
With love the welkin rings;
Two hearts are wedded in one mingling strain.
| Maiden Ecstasy | |