Sonnets | Page 6

put to
flight;
And, robed in silv'ry raiment, soft and bright
The humblest
flower as a Queen seems proud;
So when thou com'st to me in Beauty's bloom,
And on thy face soft
Pity's graces shine,
Thou can'st dispel the heavy shades of gloom

From my sad heart, which ceases then to pine;
And Hope and Joy
their quenched beams relume
And gild the universe with light divine.
XII
ETERNAL JOY
Truth is but as the eye of God doth see;
And Love is truth, and Love
hath made thee mine.
What though on earth our lives may not
combine,
Love makes us one for all Eternity!
God gives us to each
other, bids us be
Each other's soul's fulfilment, makes Love shine

Upon our souls as His own light divine.
An effluence of His own
deity.
Why ask for more? Our union is above
All earthly unions, ours those
heights serene
Where Love alone is Heav'n and Heav'n is Love--


Where never comes the world's harsh breath between
Hope's fruits
and flow'rs. Ah, why then earthward move,
Where pure and perfect
bliss hath never been?
XIII
CONSTANCY
Ah, Love, I know that to my love thou art,
And must be, in this life, a
dream,--a name!
But be it joy or grief, or praise or blame,
I give
thee all the worship of my heart.
'Tis not for Love to bid life's cares
depart;
Love wings the soul for Heaven whence it came.
Such love
from Petrarch's soul did Laura claim,
And Beatrice to Dante did
impart.
To thee I turn,--be thou or near or far,
And whether on my love thou
frown or smile,--
As, in mid-ocean, to some fairy isle

Palm-crowned; as, in the heav'ns, to eve's bright star
Whose pure
white fire allures the vision, while
Myriads of paler lights unnoticed
are!
XIV
CALM AFTER STORM
Thou hast but seen what but mine eyes have shown--
Mine eyes that
gazing on thee picture Heaven;
Thou hast but heard what but my
voice hath given--
My voice that takes from thine a calmer tone.
Ah!
couldst thou know all that my heart hath known,
While with Despair's
dark phantoms it hath striven--
From faith to doubt, from joy to
sorrow driven,
Till rescued and redeemed by Love alone,--
Thou wouldst not marvel were my cloudless brow
O'er-clouded, were
my aspect less serene!
Love smiles on Death, unveils his mystery

Of joy and grief, and Love bids me avow
This truth, with chastened

heart and tranquil mien,--
'Less pure Love's bliss if less Love's
agony.'
XV
THE STAR OF LOVE
Time's cycle rolls--once more I hail the day
On which propitious
Heaven sent to Earth,
Disguised in thy fair form, in mortal birth,

The Star of Love, whose pure celestial ray
Glides through the spirit's
gloom and lights the way
To bliss! I hail thy coming 'midst the dearth

Of the soul's aspirations, when the worth
Of hearts like thine had
ceased men's hearts to sway.
I greet thee, Love, and with thee scale the height,
That cloudless
height where winged spirits rest:
Where the deep yearnings of the
mortal breast,
From mortal bin set free, reveal to sight
That living
Presence, that Eternal Light
In which enwrapt the eager soul is blest.
XVI
IMPRISONED MUSIC
Oh, had I but the poet's voice to sing,
Then would the music prisoned
in my heart
(Panting in vain its message to impart)
Hover around
thee, Love, on trembling wing,
To tell thee of the soft-eyed hopes that
cling
To Love's white feet, the doubts and fears that start
And
pierce his bosom with a poisoned dart,--
The smiles that soothe, the
cold hard looks that sting!
But 'tis not mine, the soaring joy of Song:
I strive to voice my soul,
but strive in vain.
Though passion thrills, and eager fancies throng,

Deckt in the varying hues of joy and pain,
Yet the weak voice--as
weak as Love is strong--
Dies murm'ring on Love's throbbing heart
again.

XVII
LOVE'S MESSAGE
We will not take Love's name; that little word,
By lips too oft
profaned, we will not use.
From Nature's best and loveliest we will
choose
Fit symbols for Love's message; like a bird,--
Whose
warbled love-notes by its mate are heard
In greenwood glade,--shalt
thou in strains profuse
The prisoned music of thy heart unloose,

While my heart's love is by sweet flow'rs averred.
Then take, O take these fresh-awakened flowers,
The symbols of my
love, and keep them near,
Where they may feel thy breath and touch
thy hand;
Then sing thy songs to me,--in silver showers
Pour forth,
thine eager soul, and I shall hear;
Ah, thus will Love Love's message
Understand!
XVIII
ECSTASY
The Nightingale upon the Rose's breast
Warbling her tale of life-long
sorrow lies,
Till in love's trancèd ecstasy her eyes
Close and her
throbbing heart is set at rest;
For, to the yielding flow'r her bosom
prest,
Death steals upon her in the sweet disguise
Of crownèd love
and brings what life denies,--
mingling of the souls,--Love's eager
quest!
Thus let my heart against thy heart repose,
Sigh forth its life in one
delicious sigh,
Then drink new life from out thy balmy breath;
Thus
in love's languor let our eyelids close,
And let our blended souls
enchanted lie,
And dream of joy beyond the gates