Classic Poem

In the same place, when Nature wore
The same celestial glow,
I'm sure I've seen those forms before*
But many springs ago;

And only he had locks of light,*
And she had raven hair;*
While now, his curls are dark as night,
And hers as morning fair.

Besides, I've dreamt of tears whose traces
Will never more depart,
Of agony that fast effaces
The verdure of the heart.

I dreamt one sunny day like this,
In this peerless month of May,
I saw her give the unanswered kiss
As his spirit passed away:

Those young eyes that so sweetly shine
Then looked their last adieu,
And pale Death changed that cheek divine
To his unchanging hue;

And earth was cast above the breast
That beats so warm and free*
Where her soft ringlets lightly rest*
And move responsively.*

Then she, upon the covered grave —
The grass grown grave, did lie:
A tomb not girt by Gondal's wave*
Nor arched by Gondal's sky.*

The sod was sparkling bright with dew,
But brighter still with tears,
That welled from mortal grief, I knew,
Which never heals with years.

And if he came not for her woe,
He would not now return;
He would not leave his sleep below
When she had ceased to mourn.

O Innocence, that cannot live
With heart-wrung anguish long —
Dear childhood's Innocence, forgive,
For I have done thee wrong!

The bright rose-buds, those hawthorns shroud
Within their perfumed bower,
Have never closed beneath a cloud,
Nor bent before a shower — *

Had darkness once obscured their sun
Or kind dew turned to rain,
No storm-cleared sky that ever shone
Could win such bliss again.