Classic Poem

" These locks, which round my fingers twine,
Are beautiful, and bright,
Such as they ever were — but mine
Are withered, thin, and white.
Yet, when beneath the ilex shade,
We pledged a fruitless vow;
They clustered, in rich light arrayed,
Dark on my youthful brow.
I was young then, who now am weak and old,
And this heart warm, which is so stern and cold.

Old as I am, thy mother's cries
I have not yet forgot,
When, through the dusky galleries,
We sought, and found thee not,
Till sportive wonder became fear,
And laughing lips grew dumb;
For, though we called her far and near,
The maiden did not come.
She had been seen by many, just before,
But the place knew her joyous laugh no more.

She must have withered, day by day,
With friends for ever nigh —
She must have perished, where she lay,
Still striving not to die.
For throbs of burning hope were given,
(Yea, till the breath was gone)
Through that fierce anguish. — God in heaven!
Was this a death for one
In whose young heart, so tender and so gay,
Love dwelt — as light inhabiteth the day.

How terrible the rise and fall
Of that prolonged suspense!
I tore myself away from all,
Upon some vain pretence;
I hid myself in darkness black,
Upon some vain pretence;
I hid myself in darkness black,
Upon the hard cold ground,
That I might hear, when I came back,
" The lost one has been found. "
I said unto my heart, why beatest thou?
Let me return — they must have found her now.

There met me, when at length I came,
No such delightful sound;
I found, what I had left, the same
Wan faces all around.
We struggled with our fears to cope,
Throughout that restless day;
But all the while, the tide of hope
Ebbed, drop by drop, away:
And when the sun was hid beneath the sea,
We sunk under the weight of agony.

Now after fifty years of pain,
And toil, by sea, and land:
I look upon my bride again,
I touch the loved-one's hand:
And all the dreary gulf between
Thy last kiss, and this hour,
Is like some dim fantastic scene,
When night and sleep have power.
All is confused within me — and I seem
About to wake, from some distressing dream.