MY TREASURE.
Under the sea my treasure lies—
Only a pair of starry eyes,
That looked out from their azure skies
With innocent wonder, sweet surprise,
That they should have strayed from Paradise.
Under the sea lies my treasure low—
Little white hands like flakes of snow,
Once soft and warm; and I loved them so!
Ah! the tide will come and the tide will go,
But their tender touch I shall never know.
Under the sea—oh, wealth most rare!—
Are silken tresses of golden hair,
Each amber thread, each lock so fair,
Gleaming out from the darkness there,
With the same soft light they used to wear.
Under the sea—oh, treasure sweet!—
Lies a curl-crowned head and tiny feet
That in days gone by, when the shadows fleet
Were growing long in the darkening street,
Came bounding forth their love to meet.
And I sometimes think, as down by the sea
I sit and dream, that there comes to me
From my darling a message that none may see,
Save those who can read love's mystery
By Nature written on leaf and tree.
Strange things to my spirit-eyes lie bare
In the azure depths of the summer air:
Through the snowy leaves of the lily fair
Gleams her pure white soul, and I compare
Its golden heart to her sunny hair.
The perfume nestling among the leaves,
Or blown on the wind from the autumn sheaves,
Is her spirit of love, my soul believes;
And while my stricken heart still grieves
That gentle presence its pang relieves.
A shell is cast by the waves at my feet,
With its wondrous music low and sweet;
And in its murmuring tones I greet
The voice of my love, while its crimson flush
From her fair young cheek has stolen the blush.
Mid white foam, tossed on the pebbly strand,
I catch a glimpse of a waving hand:
'Tis a greeting that well I understand;
But to those who see not the soul of things
'Tis only the spray which the wild wave flings.
The pearl's rare whiteness, the coral's red,
From the brow and the lip of my beautiful dead
Their soft tints stole when her spirit fled;
And it seems to me that sweet words, unsaid
By my darling, gleam through the light they shed.
Thus down by the sea, in the white sunshine,
While the winds and the waves their sighs combine,
I sit, and wait from my love a sign;
And a message comes to my waiting eyes
From under the sea where my treasure lies.
H. L. Leonard.