Page:The complete poetical works and letters of John Keats, 1899.djvu/147

Rh A whole long month of May in this sad plight

Made their cheeks paler by the break of June:

'To-morrow will I bow to my delight,

To-morrow will I ask my lady's boon.'—

'O may I never see another night,

Lorenzo, if thy lips breathe not love's tune.'—

So spake they to their pillows; but, alas,

Honeyless days and days did he let pass;

Until sweet Isabella's untouch'd cheek

Fell sick within the rose's just domain,

Fell thin as a young mother's, who doth seek

By every lull to cool her infant's pain:

'How ill she is!' said he, 'I may not speak,

And yet I will, and tell my love all plain:

If looks speak love-laws, I will drink her tears,

And at the least 't will startle off her cares.'

So said he one fair morning, and all day

His heart beat awfully against his side;

And to his heart he inwardly did pray

For power to speak; but still the ruddy tide

Stifled his voice, and pulsed resolve away—

Fever'd his high conceit of such a bride,

Yet brought him to the meekness of a child:

Alas! when passion is both meek and wild!

So once more he had waked and anguished

A dreary night of love and misery,

If Isabel's quick eye had not been wed

To every symbol on his forehead high:

She saw it waxing very pale and dead,

And straight all flush'd; so, lisped tenderly,

'Lorenzo!'—here she ceased her timid quest,

But in her tone and look he read the rest.

'O Isabella, I can half perceive

That I may speak my grief into thine ear;

If thou didst ever any thing believe,

Believe how I love thee, believe how near

My soul is to its doom: I would not grieve

Thy hand by unwelcome pressing, would not fear

Thine eyes by gazing; but I cannot live

Another night, and not my passion shrive.

'Love! thou art leading me from wintry cold,

Lady! thou leadest me to summer clime,

And I must taste the blossoms that unfold

In its ripe warmth this gracious morning time.'

So said, his erewhile timid lips grew bold,

And poesied with hers in dewy rhyme:

Great bliss was with them, and great happiness

Grew, like a lusty flower in June's caress.

Parting they seem'd to tread upon the air,

Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart

Only to meet again more close, and share

The inward fragrance of each other's heart.

She, to her chamber gone, a ditty fair

Sang, of delicious love and honey'd dart;

He with light steps went up a western hill,

And bade the sun farewell, and joy'd his fill.

All close they met again, before the dusk

Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,

All close they met, all eves, before the dusk

Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,