Classic Poem

But there came at length a letter, from this trouble-dream awakening,
Left, it seems, by some strange Signior, who had lately gone away:
But the bearer, in his ignorance, the name addressed mistaking,
Was unable to deliver it, at least, until that day:

" Who? What Signior? " asked the father. " Have you seen the English lady?
She has soft-blue eyes, brown ringlets; she is slender, fair, and tall. "
" No — the Signior went to Pisa; he is there, no doubt, already;
He was all alone — an artist — and my lodger. " That was all!

It contained but few lines, written by a hand that trembled greatly;
Here and there a word was blotted, as a tear had fallen between.
It was written in a hurry — judging from its date not lately;
Addressed, " My dearest father; " simply signed, " Your Leoline. "

Thus it ran: " Forgive me, father, for the strange step I have taken —
Oh! my heart is very heavy, knowing it will give you pain;
You will miss and mourn your daughter, in the home she has forsaken;
But forgive me, O my father! — We may never meet again.
" He is gifted who has won me; noble, too, beyond comparing
With the proudest lord or gentleman that sought me heretofore;
But, as suitor to your daughter, you had spurned him past all bearing:
For he is a simple artist, of the people, proud and poor.

" Knowing this, I was admonished by my duty, to forget him:
And I tried — how long, how vainly, let my lingering illness prove;
Therefore, when by chance befalling, some three months ago I met him,
I had learned that life was valueless to me without his love.

" Long before this scrawl will reach you, we shall be beyond your seeking
My marriage, though irregular, will leave no social stain.
God knows only how I love you — knows, too, how my heart is breaking
With a sorrow for your sorrow. Oh, you never gave me pain!

But, forgive me, darling father — by the love we bore each other
In the old days, when your soothing all my baby-cares beguiled;
By the sweet past, unreturning, by the memory of my mother,
Oh, forgive me — bless me, father, as you blessed me when a child. "