Page:Rosalind and Helen (Shelley, Forman).djvu/71

Rh
 * Or music by the night wind sent
 * Thro' strings of some still instrument,
 * Or moonlight on a midnight stream,

Gives grace and truth to life's unquiet dream.

Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, like clouds, depart
 * And come, for some uncertain moments lent.
 * Man were immortal, and omnipotent,

Didst thou, unknown and awful as thou art, Keep with thy glorious train firm state within his heart.
 * Thou messenger of sympathies
 * That wax and wane in lovers' eyes—

Thou—that to human thought art nourishment,
 * Like darkness to a dying flame!
 * Depart not as thy shadow came,
 * Depart not—lest the grave should be,

Like life and fear, a dark reality.

While yet a boy I sought for ghosts, and sped
 * Thro' many a listening chamber, cave and ruin,
 * And starlight wood, with fearful steps pursuing

Hopes of high talk with the departed dead. I called on poisonous names with which our youth is fed:
 * I was not heard—I saw them not—
 * When musing deeply on the lot

Of life, at that sweet time when winds are wooing
 * All vital things that wake to bring
 * News of birds and blossoming,—