And I dared to think that there might be
In the future's unseen treasury
A long-craved boon reserved for me,
The blessed boon of love!
But the past came up before mine eyes,
And I saw in dim succession rise
A thousand older memories,
Each one with sadness wove.
And a shadow o'er my spirit come,
And darker grew the midnight gloom,
And wilder, busier grew the hum
Of voices from the past;
Till I yielded up my hope in fear,
And shuddered in the darkness drear,
Too wildly sad to weep a tear—
To hope it might not last.
And still I sat when hope was dead.
And did not dare to raise my head,
For fear the vision was not fled,
Until a single star
Burst from the night-clouds' gloomy maze,
And broke on my bewildered gaze
In one intense and glorious blaze,
And darkness fled afar.
BEAUTY.
I have seen a gay, young, volatile creature,
With a form graceful as Hebe's, and a smile
Full of all winning witcheries; and features
Blended to such pure symmetry, that while
You strove to tell where most of beauty laid,
The delicate whole mingled in one soft shade,