POEMS.
71
Yes! all the guests have vanished, only one
Is with me now beside the glowing grate,
My faithful fire that thrills me like a sun,
And still burns on, though it is growing late.
Imagination wakes! She throws her veil
Of thinnest gauze no mortal eye may see,
All woven of the moon and starlight pale,
And flung to-night resistlessly o'er me!
Is with me now beside the glowing grate,
My faithful fire that thrills me like a sun,
And still burns on, though it is growing late.
Imagination wakes! She throws her veil
Of thinnest gauze no mortal eye may see,
All woven of the moon and starlight pale,
And flung to-night resistlessly o'er me!
And lofty aspirations come and rise,
And flitting footsteps tread the silent hall;
The mind expands and shows her painted skies,
Fairer than those that hang upon the wall.
She lends me wings—and through the bolted doors
And well-turned locks she flies away supreme,
Through all and everything she upward soars
To bask beneath the radiance of a dream!
And flitting footsteps tread the silent hall;
The mind expands and shows her painted skies,
Fairer than those that hang upon the wall.
She lends me wings—and through the bolted doors
And well-turned locks she flies away supreme,
Through all and everything she upward soars
To bask beneath the radiance of a dream!
Time, with a gentle touch, hath gently laid
A kindly finger on my cheeks and brow,
A woman's lot is mine—the sun and shade
Of joy and grief I feel hath claimed me now.
I turn from what I am and seem to-day
To what I was, in other years gone past,
And "auld lang syne" in beautiful array,
Once more comes back, and holds me firm and fast.
I think how much this fire resembles life:
Faith is the embers with their steadfast glow
A kindly finger on my cheeks and brow,
A woman's lot is mine—the sun and shade
Of joy and grief I feel hath claimed me now.
I turn from what I am and seem to-day
To what I was, in other years gone past,
And "auld lang syne" in beautiful array,
Once more comes back, and holds me firm and fast.
I think how much this fire resembles life:
Faith is the embers with their steadfast glow
