Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/256

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I'm borne away upon its pinions golden,
To other times and scenes than these around—
My soul is floating upon mem'ries olden,
To a past world of feeling more profound—

To a past world seen with a young girl's vision—
Rose-tinted and gold-lighted Paradise!
Full of soft music and of paths elysian,
Lit even by the most bewildering skies—
By day unclouded, and by evening glowing
With the wild flashes of the mystic stars,
While 'neath their glory rivers ever flowing,
Ring molten notes of gold through silver bars!

In this past world, where thou and I, as fated.
Met by the dim, deep fountain of first love—
Drank from one cup with thrilling nectar freighted—
Then, with the angels smiling from above,
And roses in our path, and bosoms thrilling.
Together wandered through this Eden-land,
Our souls with beauty and with passion filling.
Led by a chain of light, linked hand in hand

In this past world, where the first storm burst o'er us,
And wrapped us up in terror and surprise—
And tore our clinging hands apart and bore us
Far from each other and our paradise—
And left us weak and wasted, sad and lonely.
Calling upon each other through the gloom—
Yet finding not and hearing echoes only,
Treading on thorns instead of velvet bloom!

Upon one errand since that fatal hour
Does my faint spirit through the wide earth roam;
Nerving its wing with hope's mysterious power.
To find thee, lost one, and to bring thee home.