The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | VII. |
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ISOLINA
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| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
97
ISOLINA
Lines Written on again Reading an old Romance
O Isolina, loved in boyish fashion,
Loved when the heart was nobly pure and free,
Again I read thy tale of love and passion,
Again forget the world and gaze on thee.
Loved when the heart was nobly pure and free,
Again I read thy tale of love and passion,
Again forget the world and gaze on thee.
Romance beyond romance is in thy story:
I read the wild tale thirty years ago—
Yet still I see the sunlight's ceaseless glory
Poured over plains and hills of Mexico.
I read the wild tale thirty years ago—
Yet still I see the sunlight's ceaseless glory
Poured over plains and hills of Mexico.
And still, though thirty years have done their tragic
Grim work on heart and weary brain of mine,
Thy dark-fringed eyes retain their glow, their magic,
And mine grow younger as they gaze in thine.
Grim work on heart and weary brain of mine,
Thy dark-fringed eyes retain their glow, their magic,
And mine grow younger as they gaze in thine.
98
The boy grew strong for thee, and manhood's yearning
Throbbed through his heart and life became a dream:
The man to-day, on his own steps returning,
Regains his boyhood as thy dark eyes gleam.
Throbbed through his heart and life became a dream:
The man to-day, on his own steps returning,
Regains his boyhood as thy dark eyes gleam.
Thou filledst boyhood with wild thirst and hunger
Of ardent passion, fiery, unexpressed:
Thou makest manhood thirty long years younger,
And bringest somewhat of repose and rest.
Of ardent passion, fiery, unexpressed:
Thou makest manhood thirty long years younger,
And bringest somewhat of repose and rest.
Thou wast my earliest love-queen, even far earlier
Than she who swayed my heart by Northern seas;
Thou smiling under skies more blue and pearlier,
And wandering 'mid strange tropic flowers and trees.
Than she who swayed my heart by Northern seas;
Thou smiling under skies more blue and pearlier,
And wandering 'mid strange tropic flowers and trees.
When life flowed on, when the boy's heart grew older,
Was any riper passion half so wild?
As life progresses, our tired hearts turn colder:
The boy loves best, while still in part a child.
Was any riper passion half so wild?
As life progresses, our tired hearts turn colder:
The boy loves best, while still in part a child.
So, queen of high romance, take this song smiling
At the old tale—yet smiling through its tears.
How few real loves, for all their soft beguiling,
Have held a poet's heart for thirty years!
At the old tale—yet smiling through its tears.
How few real loves, for all their soft beguiling,
Have held a poet's heart for thirty years!
99
Not even the waves round English white cliffs dancing
Allure me, like that sunlit land of thine:
The land of silvery speech, and eyes swift-glancing,
And limbs whose every movement seems divine.
Allure me, like that sunlit land of thine:
The land of silvery speech, and eyes swift-glancing,
And limbs whose every movement seems divine.
O dream-wrought flower which I shall never gather,
Flower blossoming sweetly in those sunlit wilds,
Take this, song's tribute,—nay, receive thou rather
The man's love, even as thou hadst the child's!
Flower blossoming sweetly in those sunlit wilds,
Take this, song's tribute,—nay, receive thou rather
The man's love, even as thou hadst the child's!
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |