Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/206



opiates to the sick on wakeful nights,
 * As light to flowers, as flowers in poor men's rooms,
 * As to the fisher when the tempest glooms

The cheerful twinkling of his village lights; As emerald isles to flagging swallow flights,
 * As roses garlanding with tendrilled blooms
 * The unweeded hillocks of forgotten tombs,

As singing birds on cypress-shadowed heights,

Thou art to me—a comfort past compare—
 * For thy joy-kindling presence, sweet as May
 * Sets all my nerves to music, makes away

With sorrow and the numbing frost of care,
 * Until the influence of thine eyes' bright sway

Has made life's glass go up from foul to fair.