Oh in thy truth secure, thy virtue bold, Beware the poison in the cup of gold, The asp among the flowers. Thy heart beats high, Danger thou lov'st, and Danger haunts thee round. Who spurs his horse against the mountain-side; Sings like the lark-then sighs as woe-begone, A ship, a whale, change not so fast as thou. He hears me not-Those sighs were from the heart. Too, too well taught, he plays the lover's part. He who at masques, nor feigning nor sincere, With sweet discourse would win a lady's ear, Lie at her feet and on her slipper swear That none were half so faultless, half so fair, Now through the forest hies, a stricken deer, Two on his steps attend, in motley clad; One woeful-wan, one merrier yet as mad; Called Hope and Fear. Hope shakes his cap and bells, Hope follows fast and wins him with a smile. A glove, a shoe-tie, or a flower let fall What though the least, Love consecrates them all! At early matins ('twas at matin-time That first he saw and sickened in his prime) Plays with young hearts that will not be controlled. "Absence from Thee-as self from self it seems!" Scaled is the garden-wall; and lo, her beams Silvering the east, the moon comes up, revealing "An idle dream? Nightly it visits me! "That strain," she cries," as from the water rose. "Now near and nearer through the shade it flows!"Now sinks departing-sweetest in its close!" No casement gleams; no Juliet, like the day, Comes forth and speaks and bids her lover stay. Still, like aerial music heard from far, Nightly it rises with the evening star. "She loves another! Love was in that sigh!" On the cold ground he throws himself to die. Fond Youth, beware. Thy heart is most deceiving. Who wish are fearful; who suspect, believing, -And soon her looks the rapturous truth avow. Lovely before, oh, say how lovely now! She flies not, frowns not, though he pleads his cause; Nor yet-nor yet her hand from his withdraws; But by some secret Power surprised, subdued, Then come those full confidings of the past; All sunshine now, where all was overcast. Then do they wander till the day is gone, Lost in each other; and when Night steals on, Covering them round, how sweet her accents are! Oh when she turns and speaks, her voice is far, Far above singing!-But soon nothing stirs To break the silence-Joy like his, like hers, Deals not in words; and now the shadows close, Now in the glimmering, dying light she grows Less and less earthly! As departs the day, All that was mortal seems to melt away, Till, like a gift resumed as soon as given, She fades at last into a Spirit from Heaven! Then are they blest indeed; and swift the hours Till her young Sisters wreathe her hair in flowers, Kindling her beauty-while, unseen, the least Twitches her robe, then runs behind the rest, Known by her laugh that will not be suppressed. Then before All they stand-the holy vow Blest with that charm, the certainty to please. Till waked and kindled by the master's spell; Nor many moons o'er hill and valley rise |