TWO GIFTS.
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She laughingly gave me a rose, one day, And the thorns were sharp,—but the rose was red, And fragrant and warm from the sun's bright ray, So I clasped the rose, though my fingers bled,— And it fluttered in petals away. She mockingly offered her heart, one day, And I clasped what she gave, though my own heart bled, I gazed in her eyes, and her soft hair lay On my lips, and I laughed,—though the heart was dead, And crumbled to dust away! |
THE MOONFLOWER.
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Earth star of the evening, full moon of the twilight, Pale soul of the dusk, like a virgin in white, With slow graceful motion, so stealthy, so silent, She opens her heart to the kisses of night. Chaste blossom, ah! thus, when my own Love approaches, And bends o'er my spirit with fervor divine, Thus would I lay bare, in unbounded devotion, A heart pure and tender and fragrant as thine! |
THREE KISSES.
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A rampant wind, on a golden day, Sported and played with a wild, wild rose, He woke her soul from its mute repose, He kissed the heart of the wild, wild rose, And, kissing,—kissed her leaves away,— And now the wind goes sighing. Love won me, on a golden day, He woke my soul, with a kiss sublime, And the whole world vanished, and Death and Time Seemed nought at the touch of that kiss sublime! Love, kissing,—kissed my heart away, And now Love goes rejoicing. An Angel came, on pinions gray, In his cold, white arms he clasped my Love! Earth reeled, the sun went out above. Oh! God! I saw Death kiss my Love, And, kissing,—kiss his soul away— And now my soul goes wailing! |