THE FACE IN THE MIND'S EYE
THAT was once her casement,
And the taper nigh,
Shining from within there,
Beckoned, "Here am I!"
Now, as then, I see her
Moving at the pane ;
Ah; 'tis but her phantom
Borne within my brain!-
Foremost in my vision
Everywhere goes she;
Change dissolves the landscapes,
She abides with me.
Shape so sweet and shy, Dear,
Who can say thee nay?
Never once do I, Dear,
Wish thy ghost away.
I MARKED her ruined hues,
Her custom-straitened views,
I looked upon her gown,
Once rose, now earthen brown ;
The change was like the knell
Of Amabel.
Her step's mechanic ways
Had lost the life of May's;
Her laugh, once sweet in swell,
Spoilt Amabel.
I mused: “Who sings the strain
I sang ere warmth did wane ?
Who thinks its numbers spell
His Amabel? "-
Knowing that, though Love cease,
Love's race shows no decrease;
All find in dorp or dell
-I felt that I could creep
To some housetop and weep
That Time the tyrant fell
Ruled Amabel!
I said (the while I sighed
That love like ours had died),
Fond things I'll no more tell
To Amabel,
"But leave her to her fate,
And fling across the gate,
'Till the Last Trump, farewell,
O Amabel!'
16 WESTBOURNE PARK VILLAS.
It is not now as in old days
When men adored thee and thy ways
All else above;
Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One
Who spread a heaven beneath the sun,"
I said to Love.
We now know more of thee than then ; We were but weak in judgment when, With hearts abrim,
We clamoured thee that thou would'st please Inflict on us thine agonies,"
Thou art not young, thou art not fair,
No elfin darts, no cherub air,
Nor swan, nor dove
Are thine; but features pitiless,
And iron daggers of distress,"
I said to Love.
-Man's race shall perish, threatenest thou, Without thy kindling coupling-vow?
The age to come the man of now
Know nothing of ?—
We fear not such a threat from thee;
We are too old in apathy!
Mankind shall cease. So let it be,"
I said to Love.
|