III.
Yes! thou art lovelier now than ever;
How sweet ’twould be, when all the air
In moonlight swims, along thy river
To couch upon the grass, and hear
Niagara’s everlasting voice,
Far in the deep blue west away;
That dreaming and poetic noise
We mark not in the glare of day,
Oh! how unlike its torrent-cry,
When o’er the brink the tide is driven,
As if the vast and sheeted sky
In thunder fell from heaven.
IV.
Were I but there, the daylight fled,
With that smooth air, the stream, the sky,
And lying on that minstrel bed
Of nature’s own embroidery
With those long tearful willows o’er me,
That weeping fount, that solemn light,
With scenes of sighing tales before me,
And one green, maiden grave in sight;
How mournfully the strain would rise
Of that true maid, whose fate can yet
Draw rainy tears from stubborn eyes;
From lids that ne’er before were wet.
She lies not here, but that green grave
Is sacred from the plough—and flowers,
Snow-drops, and valley-lilies, wave
Amid the grass; and other showers
Than those of heaven have fallen there.
TO ---
When that eye of light shall in darkness fall,
And thy bosom be shrouded in death’s cold pall,
When the bloom of that rich red lip shall fade,
And thy head on its pillow of dust be laid;
Oh! then thy spirit shall see how true
Are the holy vows I have breathed to you;
My form shall moulder thy grave beside,
And in the blue heavens I’ll seek my bride.
Then we’ll tell, as we tread yon azure sphere,
Of the woes we have known while lingering here;
And our spirits shall joy that, their pilgrimage o’er,
They have met in the heavens to sever no more.
LINES.
Day gradual fades, in evening gray,
Its last faint beam hath fled,
And sinks the sun’s declining ray
In ocean’s wavy bed.
So o’er the loves and joys of youth
Thy waves, Indifference, roll;
So mantles round our days of truth
That death-pool of the soul.