"It is all here," said the fair girl, placing her hand upon her breast. "The heart is the fountain from which all my inspiration flows." And she bounded off to fetch her harp and the portfolio.
Anthony looked after her, but no regretful sigh rose to his lips. His heart was true to the first impression to which love had set his seal; its affections had been consecrated at another shrine, and he felt that his dear little cousin could never stand in a tenderer relation to him.
Clary returned quite in a flutter with the exertion she had used. Anthony sprang forward to relieve her of the harp, and to place it in a convenient situation.
"Juliet had a great fear of being married for her money," said Clary. "I used to laugh at her, and tell her that no one who knew her would ever remember her money; the treasures of her mind so far surpassed the dross of the world. Yet, for all that, she wrote and gave me this ballad the next morning. I felt very much inclined to scold her for her want of faith."
"Do let me hear it."
"Patience, Mr. Anthony. You must give me time to tune my harp. Such a theme as love requires all the strings to sound in perfect unison. There now—let me think a few minutes. The air must be neither very sad, nor yet gay. Something touching and tender. I have it now—"
THE MAIDEN'S DREAM.
In all the guise that beauty wears,
Well known by many a fabled token,
Last night I saw young Love in tears,
With stringless bow and arrows broken.
Oh, waving light in wanton flow,
Fair, sunny locks his brows adorn,
And on his cheeks the roseate glow
With which Aurora decks the morn.
The living light in those blind eyes
No mortal tongue could ere disclose;
Their hue was stol'n from brighter skies,
Their tears were dew-drops on the rose.
Around his limbs of heavenly mould
A rainbow-tinted vest was flung,
Revealing through each lucid fold
The faultless form by poets sung.
He sighed; the air with fragrance breath'd;
He moved; the earth confess'd the god;
Her brightest chaplets nature wreath'd,
Where'er his dimpled feet had press'd the sod.
"Why weeps Love's young divinity alone,
While men have hearts, and woman charms beneath
Tell me, fair worshipp'd boy of ages flown,
Is ev'ry flowret faded in Love's wreath?"
With that he raised his dewy, azure eyes,
And from his lips words of soft music broke;
But still the truant tears would crowding rise,
And snowy bosom heave before he spoke.
"Oh, come and weep with me," he cried, "fair maid
Weep that the gentle reign of Love is o'er;
Come, venture nearer—cease to be afraid,
For I have hearts and worshippers no more.
"In vain I give to woman's lovely form
All that can rapture on the heart bestow;
The fairest form no dastard heart can warm
While gold has greater power than Love below.
In vain I breathe a freshness on her cheek;
In vain the Graces round her footsteps move,
And eyes of melting beauty softly speak
The soul-born, silent eloquence of Love.
"It was not thus," the urchin, sighing, said,
"When hope and gladness crowned the new-born earth.
In Eden's bowers, beneath a myrtle's shade,
Before man was, Love sprang to birth.
While Heaven around me balmy fragrance shed,
With rosy chains the infant year I bound;
And as my bride young Nature blushing led
In vestal beauty o'er the verdant ground.
"The first fond sigh that young Love stole
Was wafted o'er those fields of air,
To kindle light in man's stern soul,
And render Heaven's best work more fair.
Creation felt that tender sigh,
And earth received Love's rapturous tears,
Their beauty beamed in woman's eye,
And music broke on human ears.
"Whether I moved upon the rolling seas,
Or sank on Nature's flowery lap to rest,
Or raised my light wings on the sportive breeze,
The conscious earth with joy her god confess'd.
While Mirth and Gladness round my footsteps play'd,
And bright-haired Hope led on the laughing Hours.
As man and beast in holy union stray'd
To share the lucid streams and virgin flowers.
"Ah, useless then yon shafts and broken bow
Till man abused the balm in mercy given;
Whilst gold has greater charms than Love below,
I flee from earth to find a home in heaven!"
A sudden glory round his figure spread,
It rose upon the sun's departing beam;
With the sad vision sleep together fled:
Starting, I woke—and found it all a dream!
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"When I try to compose music for love songs," said Clary, suddenly turning to Anthony, whom she found buried in profound thought, "I never succeed. If you understood this glorious science of music, and could make the harp echo the inborn melodies that float through the mind, you would not fail to give them the proper effect."
"Why do you think that I should be more fortunate than your sweet self, Clary?"
"Because you 'love one bright, particular star,' with your whole heart, Anthony. The heart has a language of its own. It speaks in music. There are few that can comprehend its exquisite tones; but those who are so gifted are the best qualified to call them forth. Love must have existed before Music. The first sigh he breathed gave birth to melodious sounds. The first words he spake were song; so Juliet tells us, in this little poem, and surely she is inspired."