Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES WRITTEN IN A COMMONPLACE BOOK, by GEORGE LUNT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES WRITTEN IN A COMMONPLACE BOOK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, sweet and gentle maiden
Last Line: An earnest of the skies!
Subject(s): Books; Women; Youth; Reading


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!





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