Classic Poem

The sun had just gone down, and the clear sky
Hung o'er the ocean like a canopy
Of gold;—th' night breeze was sleeping, and the tide
Scarce beat against the high rock's flinty side,
He lately lash'd;—the sea bird, hovering
About, for the last time dipt her white wing
In the blue element, and flew away,
As if to catch the last pale glimpse of day.
Now there came two, at this delightful hour,
Unseen by aught, save heaven, to the lone bower
They first had loved in: seated on the green
And rosy bank, two branching pines between,
Their eyes upon each other shedding light,
Gentle as star-beams on a summer night,
Lock'd in each other's arms, they smiled and sighed,
And happier seem'd than all on earth beside.
She play'd with his young smiling cheeks, and he
With her dark locks, which, flowing light and free
As the day breeze, fell on her neck of snow,
Which through them shone, as they rolled to and fro'
On its whiteness, like the first dawn of day
'Mid a black cloud, on which night flies away.
And now they talk'd of joys that long had flown,—
Of their young hours, when they, wand'ring alone
Amid the green woods, laugh'd and lov'd, and pluck'd
The sweet fresh flow'rs the blithsome bee had suck'd
His honey from; and then the fair and lovely one
Spoke of that tranquil night when she was won,—
When Hassan vow'd he loved her, and she leant
O'er him like a rose-bud, gracefully bent
By the bright dew that hangs upon it, pressing
Her warm lip to his, and sweetly caressing
The form she doated on:—but, oh! his lip
Clung not to her's, as it had ever done
When he was wont from off that heaven to sip
The rosy kiss,—his eye no longer shone,
And his arm clasp'd not her bosom, for he
Had gone out of life—into eternity!
She raised him—doubting, fearing—'till, at last,
Finding that life's short day with him had past,
With eyes that flash'd the lightning of despair,
She glared on him;—then, shrieking, fill'd the air
With her wild cries,—and, since that wretched hour,
Reason with her, alas! hath lost its power!