Glimpses of Antiquity Being a collection of metrical sketches, in the form of ballads, lyrics, &c., with main reference to mediaeval times or classical subjects. By George F. Preston [i.e. J. B. L. Warren] |
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FIRST LOVE. |
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 | Glimpses of Antiquity |  |
36
FIRST LOVE.
There is a mound that rises near my home,
And looks on happy pastures far away
To where the eye can reach a distant dome,
Catching the first beam of the golden day.
And looks on happy pastures far away
To where the eye can reach a distant dome,
Catching the first beam of the golden day.
There dwelt my first love. Thus in boyhood's sky,
Some radiant lodestar's tremulous orb appears;
And choicest minstrel art in vain would try
To sing the beauty of her tender years.
Some radiant lodestar's tremulous orb appears;
And choicest minstrel art in vain would try
To sing the beauty of her tender years.
Here standing, I would fancy, love beguiled,
I saw her kerchief flutter from the tower;
Then at my folly I half angry smiled,
Yet still kept gazing on my lady's bower.
I saw her kerchief flutter from the tower;
Then at my folly I half angry smiled,
Yet still kept gazing on my lady's bower.
37
Short seemed that distance, as I daily strode
Through scented lanes and silvery birchen grove:
Short would have been ten times as long a road,—
Distance is nothing to the wings of love!
Through scented lanes and silvery birchen grove:
Short would have been ten times as long a road,—
Distance is nothing to the wings of love!
And how will look the roadside flowered thorn,
The blooming fern-grown hedge, the taper pine,
How will they look, I wondered, on that morn
When I shall pass to ask her to be mine?
The blooming fern-grown hedge, the taper pine,
How will they look, I wondered, on that morn
When I shall pass to ask her to be mine?
And then, I thought, if fruitless breath my prayer,
The precious may-buds would delay their bloom!
But if she loved me, sunshine wondrous rare
Would flood the ordered pinewood's inmost gloom.
The precious may-buds would delay their bloom!
But if she loved me, sunshine wondrous rare
Would flood the ordered pinewood's inmost gloom.
The stealing years have left me still that mound:
There, youth's dear fancies gild my memory grey.
I watch yon sun the self-same journey bound,
Shed on my lost Love's home his earliest ray.
There, youth's dear fancies gild my memory grey.
I watch yon sun the self-same journey bound,
Shed on my lost Love's home his earliest ray.
| Glimpses of Antiquity | |