The power within him only gave
New beauty to the scene;
Linked love-thoughts with the gentle wave,
And with the forest green;
And gave the sweet and simple face
On which he gazed, a charm;—
A grace beyond all other grace,
Beyond all time to harm.
The influence of that hour appears,
When it could only seem
'Mid other loves, and hopes, and fears,
To memory, like a dream.
Still it rose beautiful and young;
A thought alone—apart—
A first creed, to which faith still clung,—
An Eden of the heart!
Ah! early love! ah! only love!
Yes, only!—what can be
Our flower below, our star above,
In after life, like thee?
Affection lingers to the last,
And we may love once more;
Morn's freshness is with morning past—
We love not as of yore.
N2
