CONCLUSION.

57

VIII.

For lying broad awake I thought of you and Effie dear;
I saw you sitting in the house, and I no longer here;

With all my strength I prayed for both, and so I felt resigned,
And up the valley came a swell of music on the wind.

IX.

I thought that it was fancy, and I listened in my bed,

And then did something speak to me - I know not what was said;

For great delight and shuddering took hold of all my mind,
And up the valley came again the music on the wind.

X.

But you were sleeping; and I said, "It's not for them; it's mine."

And if it comes three times, I thought, I take it for a sign.
And once again it came, and close beside the window-bars,
Then seemed to go right up to heaven and die among the stars.

ΧΙ.

I trust it is. I know

So now I think my time is near.
The blessed music went that way my soul will have to go.
And for myself, indeed, I care not if I go to-day,
But, Effie, you must comfort her when I am passed away.

XII.

And say to Robin a kind word, and tell him not to fret;
There's many worthier than I would make him happy yet.
If I had lived—I cannot tell - I might have been his wife;
But all these things have ceased to be, with my desire of life.

XIII.

O look! the sun begins to rise, the heavens are in a glow;
He shines upon a hundred fields, and all of them I know.

And there I move no longer now, and there his light may shine — Wild flowers in the valley for other hands than mine.

XIV.

O sweet and strange it seems to me, that ere this day is done
The voice that now is speaking may be beyond the sun
Forever and forever with those just souls and true

And what is life, that we should moan? why make we such ado?

XV.

Forever and forever, all in a blessed home

And there to wait a little while till you and Effie come-
To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your breast —
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.

THE SEA-FAIRIES.

LOW sailed the weary mariners, and saw,

SLOW

Betwixt the green brink and the running foam,
Sweet faces, rounded arms, and bosoms prest
To little harps of gold; and, while they mused,
Whispering to each other half in fear,

Shrill music reached them on the middle sea.

Whither away, whither away, whither away? fly no more.

Whither away from the high green field, and the happy blossoming

shore ?

Day and night to the billow the fountain calls;

Down shower the gambolling waterfalls

From wandering over the lea:

THE SEA-FAIRIES.

Out of the live-green heart of the dells

They freshen the silvery-crimson shells,

And thick with white bells the clover-hill swells
High over the full-toned sea:

O hither, come hither, and furl your sails,
Come hither to me and to me!

Hither, come hither, and frolic and play;
Here it is only the mew that wails;
We will sing to you all the day:
Mariner, mariner, furl your sails,

For here are the blissful downs and dales,
And merrily, merrily carol the gales,
And the spangle dances in bight and bay,
And the rainbow forms and flies on the land
Over the islands free;

And the rainbow lives in the curve of the sand;
Hither, come hither and see;

And the rainbow hangs on the poising wave,

And sweet is the color of cove and cave,

And sweet shall your welcome be;

O hither, come hither, and be our lords,

For merry brides are we!

We will kiss sweet kisses, and speak sweet words:

O listen, listen, your eyes shall glisten

With pleasure and love and jubilee !

O listen, listen, your eyes shall glisten

When the sharp, clear twang of the golden chords

Runs up the ridgéd sea!

Who can light on as happy a shore

All the world o'er, all the world o'er?

59

Whither away? listen and stay: mariner, mariner fly no more.

THE DESERTED HOUSE.

L'

I.

IFE and Thought have gone away
Side by side,

Leaving door and windows wide:

Careless tenants they!

II.

All within is dark as night:
In the windows is no light;

And no murmur at the door,
So frequent on its hinge before.

III.

Close the door, the shutters close,

Or through the windows we shall see

The nakedness and vacancy

Of the dark, deserted house.

IV.

Come away; no more of mirth

Is here or merry-making sound. The house was builded of the earth, And shall fall again to ground.

V.

Come away; for Life and Thought

Here no longer dwell;

But in a city glorious

A great and distant city - have bought

A mansion incorruptible,

Would they could have stayed with us.

A

SK me no more: the moon may draw the sea;

The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape,

With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape;

But, O too fond, when have I answered thee?
Ask me no more.

Ask me no more: what answer should I give?
I love not hollow cheek or faded eye:
Yet, O my friend, I will not have thee die!