Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/167

Rh Was in thy keeping. It will follow thee;

'Tis linked with thine existence, and will go

Whither thou goest. When thou art by the sea,

Mark how the tides obey their heavenly queen;

Beautiful mystery! Thus, by some influence

Which you may never learn to understand,

My spirit follows thine. If in visions

My look is stern, or even dark and fierce,

Think of the fires that make life agony,

And marvel if thou canst, that they should shine

Through my distorted features. I tell thee

Thou canst not measure with thine utmost thought

The depth of my wild passion.

Azlea.This is why I fear thee:

My different spirit shrinks away with dread,

And shuddereth to see

The fierce, wild passions by seclusion fed,

And nourished in the gloom

Of the deep cloister, and the dim recess

Of monastery and tomb,

Till this mad phrensy is called love's excess!

Her. No more, no more! True, in my burning brain

Are thoughts of phrensied wildness; but say not

They are the offspring of dark phantasy,

Nurtured in silence and dim solitude.

When first I saw thee on this wild sea-shore—

So frail and youthful, yet alone, amid

A scene for older hearts and stronger minds

To gaze and muse upon; and when I heard

Nature's sweet poetry in every word,

And saw, and knew, thy high and holy heart

Beating in unison with the mighty pulse

In the great heart of nature—then I knew

There was a love angels themselves might share,

Nor wrong their heavenly nature. Such was mine;

But when, day after day, and night on night,