A century which, if not sublime,
Will show, I doubt not, at its prime,
A scope above this blinkered time.
—Yet what to me how far above?
For I would only ask thereof
That thy worm should be my worm, Love!
16 Westbourne Park Villas, 1867.
HER DEFINITION
I lingered through the night to break of day,
Nor once did sleep extend a wing to me,
Intently busied with a vast array
Of epithets that should outfigure thee.
Full-featured terms—all fitless—hastened by,
And this sole speech remained: “That maiden mine!”—
Debarred from due description then did I
Perceive the indefinite phrase could yet define.
As common chests encasing wares of price
Are borne with tenderness through halls of state,
For what they cover, so the poor device
Of homely wording I could tolerate,
Knowing its unadornment held as freight
The sweetest image outside Paradise.
W. P. V.,
Summer: 1866.
THE DIVISION
Rain on the windows, creaking doors,
With blasts that besom the green,
And I am here, and you are there,
And a hundred miles between!