Page:Halleck.djvu/262

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
230
TO ELLEN.

And loveliest is her song that seems
To bid me welcome in my dreams,
Beside its winter hearth.

And must I deem her beckoning smile
But pleasant mockery, to beguile
Some lonely hour of care?
And will this Ellen prove to be
But like her namesake o’er the sea,
A being of the air?

Or shall I take the morning wing,
Armed with a parson and a ring,
Speed hill and dale along;
And, at her cottage-fire ere night,
Change into flutterings of delight,
Or what’s more likely, of affright,
The merry mockbird’s song?