III.
THE APPEAL.
1.
By that power which in man
The might of intellectual mind,
Which all height and depth can scan,
Still waves o'er that in woman shrined;
The sky-aspiring sympathies
That spurn this world's realities,
And from eager soul to soul
Fly in fire without controul—
Thee I summon to surrender
To the hopes which in me burn,
And drink feelings deep and tender
Heart from heart, as from an urn!
2.
I listen to thy bird-like singing
As to the music of some sphere,
Far in the depths of azure winging
A hymning flight, which souls may hear
That at midnight muse alone
In a thought-world of their own:
'Tis laden with a mystery deep,
That falls like shadow on me—and I weep!
3.
I look into thy deep blue eyes,
And see thy soul reposing there,
Like a rainbow in the skies;
The creature of a smile and tear,
Arching o'er each azure sphere:
Oh! when shall love be closing there,
Wearied with intense delight,
As a blue flower in twilight;
Or star-fires when the moon doth peer?
I gaze upon them, till I sleep
In an inebriate dream—and through my brain doth leap
4.
A mighty torrent of imaginings,
Full-starr'd with eyes, and clothed with wings,
All-seeing, all-pervading—
Excess of light my soul is shading!
And unless thy heart accords
That which love ne'er asks in words,
My heart, even as my lyre, will lose its strings,
And in dumb anguish die, like winter-stricken birds.
