Ah, calm me! restore me! And dry up my tears On thy high mountain platforms, Where morn first appears, Where the white mists, for ever, Are spread and upfurl'd; In the stir of the forces Whence issued the world. 4. A Farewell. MY horse's feet beside the lake, Where sweet the unbroken moonbeams lay, Sent echoes through the night to wake Each glistening strand, each heath-fringed bay. The poplar avenue was pass'd, And the roof'd bridge that spans the stream. I came! I saw thee rise !—the blood Days flew;-ah, soon I could discern A trouble in thine alter'd air! Thy hand lay languidly in mine, Thy cheek was grave, thy speech grew rare. I blame thee not!-this heart, I know, And women-things that live and move They ask not kindness, gentle ways; These they themselves have tried and known. They ask a soul which never sways With the blind gusts that shake their own. I too have felt the load I bore In a too strong emotion's sway; I too have long'd for trenchant force Have praised the keen, unscrupulous course, Which knows no doubt, which feels no fear. But in the world I learnt, what there Go then! till time and fate impress We school our manners, act our partsBut He, who sees us through and through, Knows that the bent of both our hearts Was to be gentle, tranquil, true. And though we wear out life, alas! In beating where we must not pass, Yet we shall one day gain, life past, We shall not then deny a course To every thought the mass ignore; Then, in the eternal Father's smile, Then we shall know our friends! though much Will have been lost-the help in strife, As hand in hand face earthly life Though these be lost, there will be yet Ennobled by a vast regret, And by contrition seal'd thrice sure. And we, whose ways were unlike here, |