Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/418



and happy girl,
 * With step as light as summer air,

Eyes glad with smiles, and brow of pearl, Shadowed by many a careless curl
 * Of unconfined and flowing hair;

A seeming child in everything,
 * Save thoughtful brow and ripening charms,

As Nature wears the smile of Spring
 * When sinking unto Summer’s arms.

A mind rejoicing in the light
 * Which melted through its graceful bower,

Leaf after leaf, dew-moist and bright, And stainless in its holy white,
 * Unfolding like a morning flower:

A heart, which, like a fine-toned lute,
 * With every breath of feeling woke,

And, even when the tongue was mute,
 * From eye and lip in music spoke.

How thrills once more the lengthening chain
 * Of memory, at the thought of thee!

Old hopes which long in dust have lain, Old dreams, come thronging back again,
 * And boyhood lives again in me;

I feel its glow upon my cheek,
 * Its fulness of the heart is mine,

As when I leaned to hear thee speak,
 * Or raised my doubtful eye to thine.

I hear again thy low replies,
 * I feel thy arm within my own,

And timidly again uprise The fringëd lids of hazel eyes,
 * With soft brown tresses overblown.

Ah! memories of sweet summer eves,
 * Of moonlit wave and willowy way,

Of stars and flowers, and dewy leaves,
 * And smiles and tones more dear than they!

Ere this, thy quiet eye hath smiled
 * My picture of thy youth to see,

When, half a woman, half a child, Thy very artlessness beguiled,
 * And folly’s self seemed wise in thee;

I too can smile, when o’er that hour
 * The lights of memory backward stream,

Yet feel the while that manhood’s power
 * Is vainer than my boyhood’s dream.

Years have passed on, and left their trace,
 * Of graver care and deeper thought;

And unto me the calm, cold face Of manhood, and to thee the grace
 * Of woman’s pensive beauty brought.

More wide, perchance, for blame than praise,
 * The school-boy’s humble name has flown;

Thine, in the green and quiet ways
 * Of unobtrusive goodness known.

And wider yet in thought and deed
 * Diverge our pathways, one in youth;

Thine the Genevan’s sternest creed, While answers to my spirit’s need
 * The Derby dalesman’s simple truth.

For thee, the priestly rite and prayer,
 * And holy day, and solemn psalm;

For me, the silent reverence where
 * My brethren gather, slow and calm.