Speechless-enchanted to the spot-
The girl could scarce divine
The whole disaster of her lot;
But, without sound or sign,
She cried, "O, mother! Love him notO, let his love be mine!
"You have had years of full delight
Your girlhood's passion-dream
Was realized to touch and sight,
As bright as it could seem;
And now you interpose, like night,
Before my life's first gleam.
"Yet You were once what I am now,
You won your maiden prize— You told me of my Father-how
You lived but in his eyes: You spoke of the perpetual vow,
The troth that never dies.
"Dear mother! dearer, kinder, far,
If by my childhood's bed
Your care had never strove to bar
Misfortune from my head,
But laid me where my brothers are,
Among the quiet dead.
"Ah! why not die? This cruel strife
Can thus thus only-cease.
Dear Lord! take home this erring life,
This struggling soul release;
From Heaven, perchance, upon his wife,
I might look down in peace."
That prayer, like some electric flame,
Struck with resistless force
The Lady's agitated frame;
Nor halted in its course
Till her hard pride was turned to shame,
Her passion to remorse.
She spoke her words were very low-
But resolute in tone;
"Dear child!-He comes-nay, blush not so
To have your secret known,
'Tis best-'tis best that I should go-
And leave you here alone."
Then, as his steps grew near and fast,
Her hand was on the door,
Her heart, by holy grace, had cast
The demon from its core,-
And on the threshold calm she past
The Man she loved no more.
IT was a meeting, such as on this earth
The bonds of time and circumstances permit
Rarely to those who feel and think as one:
A small but "sacred band" wholly made up
Of lovers-of old friends who had not met
For many weary years-of some whose names
Had to each other been familiar sounds,
And who now felt their spirits meet and join
At once, like waters-and of four who formed
Two complete beings, man and woman blent,
Ensamples of connubial unity.
This wondrous concert of internal life
Went on beneath the open infinite
Of an Italian sky, that varied not
More than the peace that dwelt within their souls;
So that when, all at once, before their eyes
The lake grew less transparent, and the leaves
Of the pale olive less distinguishable,
And the hills glow'd like metal, while the snow
First turn'd to gold, then red, then deadly white,
They were astonished at the flight of time
That had not struck one hour within their hearts; And amid all the riches of that South
They grudged the North its solitary charm
Of long, long, twilight, mourning bitterly
That here the day was ravished from their eyes
And bore a world of bliss along with it.
At last one rose, one younger than the rest,
One before whom life lay a glorious stream
Flowing, by right divine, through pleasant lands,
Unconscious of the fatal final sea.
He stood irradiate with that rosy light,
The funeral banner of the fallen sun,
Most like an image of incarnate Hope,
From whom no night can hide the coming morn.
Raising one arm in ecstasy, he cried,—
"Before we leave this consecrated spot,
Before this Day of Days is wholly dead,
Before the dew obliterates all our steps
From this light earth, let us record a vow!
Let us, in presence of these lasting hills,
In presence of this day's delicious thoughts,
That yet are hardly memory,-let us pledge
Our hearts together, that on this same day
Each rolling year shall see us meet again
In this same place, as far as Fate allows.
Some may be held away by cruel chance,
Some by the great divorcer, none by choice;
And thus, at least for a large lapse of time,
One Day shall stand apart from other days,
Birth-day of inward Life-Love's Holyday-
The Wedding-day, not of one single pair,
But of a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys,—
The Saint's-day, in whose fair recurrent round
Each year will circle all its blessedness."
With more than ready welcome, with loud glee,
Was hailed this happy fancy; each was prompt
Το
press the other's hand, and, joining round
The founder of this mighty festival,
To seal the sudden contract-all save One.
This one had gazed on the impassioned youth
With tender looks, that to the rest had seemed
Fond sympathy,—but had far other sense.
And now he spoke, at first with trem❜lous voice,
Softened, as if it passed through inner tears.
"O Friends! dear Friends! do anything but this :
This is a deed to wake the jealous gods
Into a cruel vengeance. We are Men;
We live from hour to hour, and have no right,
Holding no power, to fetter future years.
We may, if Heaven so please, preserve our loves,
We may enjoy our interchange of souls
Long, and in many shapes of time and fate ;
But to this spot, the scene of this To-day,
Let us, whate'er befall, never return!
"Never return! If hitherward your path Should chance to lie, when seeking other lands,
Spare not the time it takes to circuit round
This scene, and gaze upon its face no more.
Say, if you will, 'It lies amid the gold
The sunset spreads beyond that purple ridge;'
Say, if you will, 'The atoms of this stream
Flow through the place I value most on earth,
And bear my yearning heart along with them ;'
Say, if you will, 'There rests my Paradise ;'
But there, whate'er befall, never return!
"Never return! Should we come back, dear Friend! As you implore us, we should not return :
Came we all back, as Heaven would hardly grant,
There must be faded cheeks and sunken eyes,
And minds enfeebled with the rack of time,
And hearts grown colder, and,
may be, cold.
The sun might shine as gorgeous as this noon,
And yet find clouds between it and our souls;
The lake might rest like light upon the earth,
And but reflect to us sweet faces gone
And pictures mournful as the dead below;
The very flowers might breathe a poisonous breath
Should we, led by false hope, ever return!
"Trust not the dear palladium of the Past
Upon the Future's breast. The Past is ours,
And we can build a temple of rare thoughts,
Adorned with all affection's tracery,
In which to keep from contact vile and rude
The grace of this incomparable Day.
We may, by heart, go through it all again;
We may, with it, give colour, warmth, and form
To the black, shapeless mountains far away-
Calm down the seething, hyperborean, waves
To the pure sapphire of this lake, and spread
Rose-trellises across the gloomy front
|