OH, sweet and gentle maiden, At life's enchanting age, I glance along thy gathered stores, Upon the thoughtful page; Fair records of immortal minds, Whose burning words unfold Our struggling souls' emotions, Which else were all untold. And I 'an old diviner,' As I read the written line, See upon it and beneath it,— Shall I tell what I divine? Listen then, oh fairest maiden, How from signs I gather truth, How I read the page before me, And construe of thy youth. Something of a restless spirit, Quickly moved to smiles and tears, But beneath are brooding fancies, All too sad for brightening years; Thought, beyond thy girlhood's seeming, Heart, like morning's purest dew, And a soul, that seeks communion With the generous, bold, and true. Brimming full life's morning chalice, Yet, within the gilded round, Bubbling up immortal longings For what earth has never found! Yet, though no cloud has gathered Its shadows on thy heart, Nor mortal sorrow made itself Of all thy life a part; Though hopes and joys surround thee, And on thy summer hours The smiles of home and friendship fall, Like sunlight shed on flowers; Yet better thus, believe me, Before the shadows come, This softer, sadder, inward light Around thy spirit's home; For this, when smiles are fading, And earthly hopes decay, Glows brighter, through the darkest night, And cheers the roughest day; Spreads through the soul a sober joy, As earthborn pleasure flies, A gleam of kindred heaven, An earnest of the skies! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WAY TO ARCADY by HENRY CUYLER BUNNER THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 12 by THOMAS CAMPION FOR MY CHILD by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS ON H----YS FRIENDSHIP by WILLIAM BLAKE TO VENETIAN ARTISTS by WILLIAM BLAKE TO A WREATH OF SNOW by EMILY JANE BRONTE THE WANDERER: 4. IN SWITZERLAND: A QUIET MOMEMENT by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |