 | The Battle-Day and Other Poems |  |
IV.
Then o'er their world began to rollThe gradual twilight of the soul.
No wind can wave that gloom away,
And backward waft the fading day;
'Tis not a summer-glory flies,
But 'tis the very sun that dies.
For Love, estranged by wavering fate,
Changes but once, and that—to Hate.
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Oh! still more madly than before.
But Doubt, as with enchanter's art,
Placed its cold hand upon his heart;
Froze the warm glances in his eye,
And turned to ice the burning sigh;
Chilled the full ardour of his tone
To stony words from lips of stone,
And blighting thus another's fate,
Yet left himself most desolate.
At first, so slight the altered guise,
It woke no fear—scarce raised surprise:
But hour by hour, and day by day,
Something familiar died away,—
A smile, a sigh, a look the less,
A languor in the forced caress,
Those nameless nothings, that reveal
Tho' tongues be mute, what hearts must feel.
Though all unseen, they felt, they knew
A veil was drawn between the two;
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Who silent stood on either side;
It hung between, so thin of fold,
And yet so chilly, dark, and cold,
The smiles of love could not shine through,
The kind glance lost its tenderest hue,
The soft endearments of the Past
Gleamed pale athwart its darkness cast:
Yet 'twas at first a thing so slight,
That mocked the touch, the ear, the sight!
Oh! it had yielded to a breath—
One little word of love and faith!
That little word was never spoken:
And souls were wrecked—and hearts were broken!
Long, long she mourned without a spot,
And where she sought love found it not;
And then she grieved, that such should be,
And anger tinged her cheek with flame;
Nor dreamed that Infidelity
Thus in the guise of Reason came,
And o'er her heart its shadow brought,
While still afar in lands of thought.—
When passion once asserts its sway
Fly swiftly from the strife away,
For in the struggle every hour
Waxes the wily foeman's power,
Who in the heart securely sits,
There hides, attacks, defends by fits;
Defeated to new strife invites,
And feeds upon the foe he fights,
As skilful warriors lead their band
To live upon a hostile land.
And where she sought love found it not;
And then she grieved, that such should be,
And anger tinged her cheek with flame;
50
Thus in the guise of Reason came,
And o'er her heart its shadow brought,
While still afar in lands of thought.—
When passion once asserts its sway
Fly swiftly from the strife away,
For in the struggle every hour
Waxes the wily foeman's power,
Who in the heart securely sits,
There hides, attacks, defends by fits;
Defeated to new strife invites,
And feeds upon the foe he fights,
As skilful warriors lead their band
To live upon a hostile land.
Then—when her heart was wearing slow,
A pendulum 'twixt wrath and woe—
A lover came with sweeter tongue,
Each word was music though unsung:
She turned her from the voice so cold,
From the dark, stern brow she turned
To smiles that sunlight round her rolled,
And eyes and words that burned.
She leaned her from her lattice high,
Her heart went down long, long before:
It was a brief, wild agony:
She followed when the strife was o'er.
A pendulum 'twixt wrath and woe—
A lover came with sweeter tongue,
Each word was music though unsung:
She turned her from the voice so cold,
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To smiles that sunlight round her rolled,
And eyes and words that burned.
She leaned her from her lattice high,
Her heart went down long, long before:
It was a brief, wild agony:
She followed when the strife was o'er.
One throb of joy, one pulse of pain,
One moment's thought between the twain:
A heart that broke—a death that healed,
So wretched that it half annealed;
Yet sadder fate on Lindsay's head—
A heart that beat although 'twas dead.
One moment's thought between the twain:
A heart that broke—a death that healed,
So wretched that it half annealed;
Yet sadder fate on Lindsay's head—
A heart that beat although 'twas dead.
| The Battle-Day and Other Poems | |