More would I wish, and yet no more I would; And new tears born of old desires declare That still I am as I was wont to be, And that a thousand changes change not me. MACGREGOR. TO THE FOUNTAIN OF VAUCLUSE-CONTEMPLATIONS OF DEATH. Clear, fresh, and dulcet streams, Which the fair shape, who seems To me sole woman, haunted at noon-tide; Fair bough, so gently fit, (I sigh to think of it,) Which lent a pillow to her lovely side; And turf, and flowers bright-eyed, O'er which her folded gown Flowed like an angel's down; And you, O holy air and hushed, Where first my heart at her sweet glances gushed; Give ear, give ear, with one consenting, To my last words, my last and my lamenting. If 'tis my fate below, And Heaven will have it so, That Love must close these dying eyes in tears, May my poor dust be laid In middle of your shade, While my soul, naked, mounts to its own spheres. The thought would calm my fears, When taking, out of breath, The doubtful step of death; For never could my spirit find A stiller port after the stormy wind; Nor in more calm, abstracted bourne, Slip from my travailed flesh, and from my bones outworn. Perhaps, some future hour, To her accustomed bower Might come the untamed, and yet the gentle she; And where she saw me first, Might turn with eyes athirst, And kinder joy to look again on me; Then, O the charity! Seeing amidst the stones The earth that held my bones, A sigh for very love at last Might ask of Heaven to pardon me the past: And Heaven itself could not say nay, As with her gentle veil she wiped the tears away. How well I call to mind, When from those boughs the wind Shook down upon her bosom flower on flower; And there she sat, meek-eyed, In midst of all that pride, Sprinkled and blushing through an amorous shower. Some to her hair paid dower, And seemed to dress the curls, Queenlike, with gold and pearls ; Some, snowing, on her drapery stopped, Some on the earth, some on the water dropped; While others, fluttering from above, Seemed wheeling round in pomp, and saying, "Here reigns Love!" How often then I said, Inward, and filled with dread, 66 Doubtless this creature came from Paradise!" For at her look the while, Her voice, and her sweet smile, And heavenly air, truth parted from mine eyes; So that, with long-drawn sighs, I said, as far from men, "How came I here, and when?" I had forgotten; and alas! Fancied myself in heaven, not where I was; And from that time till this, I bear Such love for the green bower, I cannot rest elsewhere. LEIGH HUNT. HE ENVIES EVERY SPOT THAT SHE FREQUENTS. O bright and happy flowers and herbage blessed, O thou, fair country, and thou, crystal stream, WROTTESLEY. TO THE SUN, WHOSE SETTING HID LAURA'S DWELLING FROM HIS VIEW. O blesséd Sun! that sole sweet leaf I love, The shadows from yon gentle heights that fall, The beauteous landscape and the blesséd scene, MACGREGOR. TO LOVE, ON LAURA WALKING ABROAD. Here stand we, Love, our glory to behold, But light up all their fires, to celebrate Her praise, whose presence charms their awful beauty. MERIVALE. HE LEAVES VAUCLUSE, BUT HIS SPIRIT REMAINS THERE WITH LAURA. The loved hills where I left myself behind, That still the fair yoke holds me, which despair And as a stag, sore struck by hunter's dart, Flies, and more grieves the more the chase is pressed, So I, with Love's keen arrow in my heart, Endure at once my death and my delight, Racked with long grief, and weary with vain flight. MACGREGOR. HEARING NO TIDINGS OF HER, HE BEGINS TO DESPAIR. Still do I wait to hear, in vain still wait, Of that sweet enemy I love so well: If so, she will illuminate that sphere MOREHEAD. TO LAURA IN DEATH. HE DESIRES TO DIE, THAT HIS SOUL MAY BE WITH HER, AS HIS THOUGHTS ALREADY ARE. E'en in youth's fairest flower, when Love's dear sway Is wont with strongest power our hearts to bind, Leaving on earth her fleshly veil behind, |