Every bower is now forsaken—
There's no bird to charm the air!
From the bough of youth is shaken
Every hope that blossom'd there;
And my soul doth now inrobe her
In the leaves of sere October
Under branches swaying bare.
When the midnight falls beside me,
Like the gloom which in me lies,
To the stars my feelings guide me,
Seeking there thy sainted eyes;
Stars whose rays seem ever bringing
Down the soothing air, the singing
Of thy soul in paradise.
Oh, that I might stand and listen
To that music ending never,
While those tranquil stars should glisten
On my life's o'erfrozen river,
Standing thus, for ever seeming
Lost in what the world calls dreaming,
Dreaming, love, of thee, forever!
THE SHADY SIDE.
I sat and gazed upon thee, Rose,
Across the pebbled way,
And thought the very wealth of mirth
Was thine that winter day;
For while I saw the truant rays
Within thy window glide,
Remember'd beams reflected came
Upon the shady side.
I sat and gazed upon thee, Rose,
And thought the transient beams
Were leaving on thy braided brow
The trace of golden dreams;
Those dreams, which like the ferry-barge
On youth's beguiling tide,
Will leave us when we reach old age,
Upon the shady side.
Ah! yes, methought while thus I gazed
Across the noisy way,
The stream of life between us flow'd
That cheerful winter day;
And that the bark whereon I cross'd
The river's rapid tide,
Had left me in the quietness
Upon the shady side.
Then somewhat of a sorrow, Rose,
Came crowding on my heart,
Revealing how that current sweeps
The fondest ones apart;
But while you stood to bless me there,
In beauty, like a bride,
I felt my own contentedness,
Though on the shady side.
The crowd and noise divide us, Rose,
But there will come a day
When you, with light and timid feet,
Must cross the busy way;
And when you sit, as I do now,
To happy thoughts allied,
May some bright angel shed her light
Upon the shady side!