I. THE winds blow up through the blooming vale, And sigh as they did of old; The clouds break over the trysting-place With a long, lithe lance of gold. The sun goes down, and the shadows grow, All under the trysting-tree; They flicker high and they flicker low And they seem to question me. II. The glimmering rays of the summer moon Glide down on the milk-white stream, And field and wood, in the dewy hush, Are dreaming a fairy dream. The cricket calls, with shrill, high fife, And the lonely whippoorwill Is breaking his heart with his old complaint, "I love her, I love her still!" III. Here, while I wait for the coming feet, I may at last recall Those who kept tryst in this sweet, green spot, And I knew and greeted all! O Royal Love, with his eyes of flame, And his kiss of poison wine, -- Once, treading the summer's rose-bowered path, I saw his sandals shine! IV. And Hope, with his vision fixed above, His eye like the evening star, Too joyous to heed the sigh I gave When I watched him from afar. And Youth, whose face I ne'er could see, Whose voice I ne'er forget, -- How oft hath Memory dreamed of him, Her eyes with longing wet! V. Cold are the dews, the night grows late, The stars are all aglow; The branches of the whispering tree Sway lightly to and fro. Love comes no more down the rose-bowered path, Hope and sweet Youth are flown; In silence I wait at the trysting-place Forgotten and left alone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID, OR THE RIGIDLY RIGHTEOUS by ROBERT BURNS GETTYSBURG [JULY 1-3, 1863] by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE THE LEPER (2) by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS THE MAN WHO DREAMED OF FAERYLAND by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS TO WISDOM by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD AUNT DOROTHY'S LECTURE by ADA CAMBRIDGE MY POLITICAL FAITH by GEORGE FREDERICK CAMERON TO BEN JONSON; UPON OCCASION OF HIS ODE OF DEFIANCE ... by THOMAS CAREW WRITTEN .. AUTHOR'S BATHING AT TEIGNMOUTH, FOR THE HEAD-ACHE by JANE CAVE |