The Chain of Lilies, and other poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

My heart beat quick—To horse, away!
Swifter than thought, and onward still!
Soon on the plain the evening lay,
And soon the night hung on the hill;
And through the mist the oak that loom'd
A storied giant seem'd to rise,
When darkness through the thicket gloom'd
Drearily with a hundred eyes.

II

Sad, from behind a piled-up cloud,
The moon look'd forth upon the night;
Strange harp-like moanings, deep, not loud,
The winds were uttering in their flight,
And formless horrors throng'd my road—
Yet, ah! my soul was glad, was free;
My blood was burning as it flow'd—
My heart was warm with thoughts of thee!

III

I saw thee, and a tender joy
Stream'd from thy gentle glance to mine;
Against thy side my heart beat high,
And every breath I drew was thine:
A brightness, fresh as spring-tide flowers,
About thy dearest face there grew,
Where beam'd thy love for me,—kind powers!—
My hope, but all beyond my due.

IV

Too soon the sun stood in the sky,
When we must part—my heart was wrung—
Then in thy kisses, oh what joy,
Then on thine eyes what sadness hung!
I went—thy glances follow'd me,
Tearfully eager, on my road—
But oh, what bliss beloved to be!
To love thee, what a rapture,—God!

Meeting and Parting.