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Her face growing pale, then rosy red,
As on her lips, kisses my ardour shed.
How I told my love, and hers the same
I believed it then, an equal flame;
Standing together, our hearts enchained,
I believed life's dearest bliss attained.
Ah! what delight to hear my name,
Breathed from her bosom, that blushed as it came,
To the lips I loved; and so sweetly fell,
On an ear that knew every tone so well.
Ah! what delight when a small soft hand,
O'erpowered me like a fairy wand,

While the moon above shining clear and bright,
With a glow as soft as it shed this night,
Bade a halo of light round her temples glow,
As if angels were gliding to woo her below.
Ah! that night. Then I thought of the stroke,
When the voice of a sordid father spoke,

Bidding her take the lover he chose,

And in wealth and ease for life repose,

While this wealthy one, shall I say 'twas he,

Who drew life from the self-same fount with me?

Bore the same name, as well as blood,

And in tones the same as his Brother's wooed.

I watched to see if a blush of shame,

Ever upon her visage came;

When she stood arrayed in bridal white,
Which kept the guilt from others' sight,
And at the very altar's side,

Where she had vowed to be my bride;
Wedded the first-born of our race,
Wedded for gold to love's disgrace.
I watched for a sign of trembling,
When on the finger he placed the ring ;
And with a circlet of gold as rare
As the sunny masses of streaming hair,
Tied up a soul too false and cold
To be bound with that sacred virgin gold.
I watched to see if through all the day,
One shadow the falsehood purged away;
Or one tear fell from those eyes that shone,
With mute obedience on him alone.
In vain I watched, no emotion betrayed
The feelings even of gentle maid;
Not a blush or pallor disturbed her brow,
No tear drop mourned the broken vow.
A mind as empty as the heart,

Played through the day that bridal part.

Had she dropped one tear, heaved but one sigh, I had murmured forgiveness peacefully;

Resigned to fate, and as before,

Loved on, in vain, but evermore.

But when deceit so base is found,
In all that smiled so sweetly round,
In woman's heart a fatal snare,

In woman's smile a she-wolf's lair,
In every word some double sense,
To trap and ruin innocence,

I vowed, from love in agony hurled,
To hate for ever the female world,
To shut my soul within itself,
To bend my mind to worldly pelf,
To war with man for trivial gain,

Nor feel for those who scorned my pain.
For six long months resolution held,

My blood from its wholesome course compelled,
Dried in the channels of love's domain,
And centred its force in the busy brain;
But hearts when young resume their sway,
If crushed in autumn they heal in May,
So when the spring once more with green
Tinted the hills where the snows had been,

I left the dungeons of the town,

To Hampstead for a run went down ;
There, as erewhile I sang, I lay,
Till roused by the busy stir of day.
I resolved once more fresh life to woo,

And give the mind to something new.

Avoiding smiling women still,
Pursuing hate with unyielding will,
But Eva looked so fair to-night,
My resolutions all take flight.

My heart again feels young and gay,
Once more my limbs in raptures play,
Once more I joy in pleasing nature's sight,
And love descends upon the air of night.

XVII.

So very long have I been sad,

This sudden change might drive me mad.

For surely when I seek once more

The busy world, all things will seem so strange,

For like the lightning's flash, our thoughts now range. At this great height of civilisation,

We, the leading modern nation,

As by a single power are brought,

Almost to use machines for thought.
Observe! for speed an illustration,

What if men like they have power to do.

In modern days, how few

Use the needle to sew a seam ;

The "Universal" sewing machine

Runs it up so fast,

"Twill merit its name at last.

(This as a passing observation.)

But I, once all life,

Now seem grown mild and meek ;
All unfit for strife,

In an age so noisy and mad.

When little notice is taken of crimes,
That met with death in other times.
And even still, to the disgrace
Of our ancient and noble race,
Meet with justice in other climes,
In hopes to destroy the bad,

To purge those lands from evil ways,
And ask kind heaven for brighter days.
'Tis folly to rail at the weak and wrong,
Hast thou yet proved thyself more strong?

XVIII.

Home! Yes, when I had lost all heart,
With every sense and feeling chilled;
It was home held life and death apart,
A mother's voice the passion stilled.

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