Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/624

 But earth's children must grieve:
 Whether cypress-boughs weave
O'er their lost ones, or wild sea-birds reap
 Their rich treasures, a moan
 Goeth up to God's throne,
From the hearts of" the many who weep.

 Still I see the rich curl
 Of that fair shipwrecked girl,
Who lies shrouded where storm-billows roll.
 And that bird grim and gaunt
 Shall for evermore haunt.
Like a phantom, the depth of my soul.

ONE SUMMER NIGHT.

One Summer night I stood with thee,
 Beneath a full unclouded moon ;
My young heart then was wild with glee,
 And basked in pleasure's golden noon ;
My dark hair fell in wavy showers
 Upon my neck and o'er my brow.
All gemmed with pearls and wreathed with flowers:
 Their fragrance seems around me now.

A rose-bud from my bosom fell,
 As thus beneath the moon we stood;
And thou—ah! I remember well—
 Didst raise and kiss the unconscious bud.
But not unconscious was the heart
 Forever thine—forever true;
And in that hour the wish would start
 That I had been a rose-bud too.

I longed to save it free from blight,
 I longed to keep that careless kiss.
And oh! I wished that Summer night,
 With all its brightness and its bliss.
Could last forever;—'twas no crime,
 When all the moments fled so fast,
That I should wish to fetter time,
 And live them over as they pass'd.

But thou didst break the spell too soon,
 That made my early youth so bright—
I found thee colder than the moon,
 Whose beauty seemed to haunt that night
With splendor, till the nodding flowers
 Were half-awakened by its ray.
And startled birds, within their bowers,
 Sang sweetly, dreaming of the day—

Of wai'mth and sunlight — foolish dove !
 To warble 'neath a moonlit sky.
As was my heart to dream of love,
 Beneath the proud glance of thine eye.
That looked upon it but to wake
 Love's sweetest music, wild and free,
To leave — an echo, and forsake
 The heart while yet it thrilled for thee.

Long years have passed, and now once more
 I stand where on that night we stood,—
Again the Summer moonbeams pour
 Upon my brow their silvery flood;
The same from yon calm sky they come,
 No change their mellow light can tell,
Since first upon the spotless bloom
 Of Eden's bowers they softly fell.

Yon moon has never lost one ray,
 Since first she lit the earth and sea,
And I have never turned away
 One single thought of love from thee.
Since on that Summer night we met;
 But now the moonbeams seem to glide
Around me with a sad regret,
 As if they missed thee from my side.

The night-wind, as it sweeps along,
 I fancy has a different tone.
And the low burden of its song
 Runs ever thus : "Alone! alone!"
How changed the earth, the sky, the flowers.
 Since that too well-remembered time.
When hope sprang up to meet the hours,
 And pleasure drowned the midnight chime.