A 2. Meeting. GAIN I see my bliss at hand! The town, the lake are here. My Marguerite smiles upon the strand I know that graceful figure fair, I know that soft enkerchief'd hair, Again I spring to make my choice; I hear a God's tremendous voice: 'Be counsell'd, and retire!' Ye guiding Powers who join and part, Ah, warn some more ambitious heart, And let the peaceful be! 3. Parting. E storm-winds of Autumn ! YE Who rush by, who shake The window, and ruffle The gleam-lighted lake; Who cross to the hill-side Thin-sprinkled with farms, Where the high woods strip sadly Their yellowing arms;— Ye are bound for the mountains! Ah, with you let me go Where your cold distant barrier, The vast range of snow, Through the loose clouds lifts dimly Its white peaks in air How deep is their stillness! Ah! would I were there! But on the stairs what voice is this I hear, Buoyant as morning, and as morning clear? Say, has some wet bird-haunted English lawn Or was it from some sun-fleck'd mountain-brook That the sweet voice its upland clearness took? Ah! it comes nearer Sweet notes, this way! Hark! fast by the window To the ice-cumber'd gorges, The vast seas of snow. There the torrents drive upward Their rock-strangled hum, There the avalanche thunders The hoarse torrent dumb. -I come, O ye mountains! Ye torrents, I come! But who is this, by the half-open'd door, Ah! they bend nearer— Hark! the wind rushes past us Ah! with that let me go To the clear waning hill-side Unspotted by snow, There to watch, o'er the sunk vale, The frore mountain wall, Where the niched snow-bed sprays down Its powdery fall! There its dusky blue clusters The aconite spreads; There the pines slope, the cloud-strips Hung soft in their heads! No life but, at moments, Forgive me! forgive me! Ah, Marguerite, fain Would these arms reach to clasp thee ! But see! 'tis in vain. In the void air towards thee My strain'd arms are cast; But a sea rolls between us- To the lips, ah! of others, Were clasp'd to that breast; Far, far from each other Our spirits have grown; And what heart knows another? Blow, ye winds! lift me with you! I come to the wild. Fold closely, O Nature! Thine arms round thy child. To thee only God granted A heart ever new To all always open, To all always true. |