Legends and Lyrics Volume Ii Part 10

Now with violets strewn upon her, Mildred lies in peaceful sleeping; All unbound her long, bright tresses, and her throbbing heart at rest, And the cold, blue rays of moonlight, through the open cas.e.m.e.nt creeping, Show the ring upon her finger, and her hands crossed on her breast.

Peace at last. Of peace eternal is her calm sweet smile a token.

Has some angel lingering near her let a radiant promise fall?

Has he told her Heaven unites again the links that Earth has broken?

For on Earth so much is needed, but in Heaven Love is all!

VERSE: BORROWED THOUGHTS

I. FROM "LAVATER."

Trust him little who doth raise To one height both great and small, And sets the sacred crown of praise, Smiling, on the head of all.

Trust him less who looks around To censure all with scornful eyes, And in everything has found Something that he dare despise.

But for one who stands apart, Stirred by nought that can befall, With a cold indifferent heart,-- Trust him least and last of all.

II. FROM "PHANTASTES."

I have a bitter Thought, a Snake That used to sting my life to pain.

I strove to cast it far away, But every night and every day It crawled back to my heart again.

It was in vain to live or strive, To think or sleep, to work or pray; At last I bade this thine accursed Gnaw at my heart, and do its worst, And so I let it have its way.

Thus said I, "I shall never fall Into a false and dreaming peace, And then awake, with sudden start, To feel it biting at my heart, For now the pain can never cease."

But I gained more; for I have found That such a snake's envenomed charm Must always, always find a part, Deep in the centre of my heart, Which it can never wound or harm.

It is coiled round my heart to-day.

It sleeps at times, this cruel snake, And while it sleeps it never stings:- Hus.h.!.+ let us talk of other things, Lest it should hear me and awake.

III. FROM "LOST ALICE."

Yes, dear, our Love is slain; In the cold grave for evermore it lies, Never to wake again, Or light our sorrow with its starry eyes; And so--regret is vain.

One hour of pain and dread, We killed our Love, we took its life away With the false words we said; And so we watch it, since that cruel day, Silent, and cold, and dead.

We should have seen it s.h.i.+ne Long years beside us. Time and Death might try To touch that life divine, Whose strength could every other stroke defy Save only thine and mine.

No longing can restore Our dead again. Vain are the tears we weep, And vainly we deplore Our buried Love: its grave lies dark and deep Between us evermore.

IV. FROM * * *

Within the kingdom of my Soul I bid you enter, Love, to-day; Submit my life to your control, And give my Heart up to your sway.

My Past, whose light and life is flown, Shall live through memory for you still; Take all my Present for your own, And mould my Future to your will.

One only thought remains apart, And will for ever so remain; There is one Chamber in my heart Where even you might knock in vain.

A haunted Chamber:- long ago I closed it, and I cast the key Where deep and bitter waters flow, Into a vast and silent sea.

Dear, it is haunted. All the rest Is yours; but I have shut that door For ever now. 'Tis even best That I should enter it no more.

No more. It is not well to stay With ghosts; their very look would scare Your joyous, loving smile away-- So never try to enter there.

Check, if you love me, all regret That this one thought remains apart:- Now let us smile, dear, and forget The haunted Chamber in my Heart.

VERSE: LIGHT AND SHADE

Thou hast done well to kneel and say, "Since He who gave can take away, And bid me suffer, I obey."

And also well to tell thy heart That good lies in the bitterest part, And thou wilt profit by her smart.

But bitter hours come to all: When even truths like these will pall, Sick hearts for humbler comfort call.

Then I would have thee strive to see That good and evil come to thee, As one of a great family.

And as material life is planned, That even the loneliest one must stand Dependent on his brother's hand;

So links more subtle and more fine Bind every other soul to thine In one great brotherhood divine.

Nor with thy share of work be vexed; Though incomplete, and even perplex, It fits exactly to the next.

What seems so dark to thy dim sight May be a shadow, seen aright, Making some brightness doubly bright.

The flash that struck thy tree,--no more To shelter thee,--lets Heaven's blue floor s.h.i.+ne where it never shone before.

Thy life that has been dropped aside Into Time's stream, may stir the tide, In rippled circles spreading wide.

The cry wrung from thy spirit's pain May echo on some far-off plain, And guide a wanderer home again.

Fail--yet rejoice; because no less The failure that makes thy distress May teach another full success.

It may be that in some great need Thy life's poor fragments are decreed To help build up a lofty deed.

Thy heart should throb in vast content, Thus knowing that it was but meant As chord in one great instrument;

That even the discord in thy soul May make completer music roll From out the great harmonious whole.

It may be, that when all is light, Deep set within that deep delight Will be to know why all was right;