Classic Poem

I thought I loved,—no form of earth,
A soul, a visioned shape of air,
The teeming heart and fancy's birth,
The image of all good and fair;
It had a life, a place, a home,
Had smile and glance and voice and tone;
Like green fields in the ocean's foam,
'T was with me still when all alone.

There was a Heaven upon its brow,
An Eden in its happy eye;
It charmed,—the sage may tell me how;
It still has lived, it will not die,—
In pain and pleasure, weal and woe,
Has always been my heart's fond goal,
The centre where my feelings flow,
The point where all my wishes roll;

The harmony of heart and thought,
The smile that always answers smile,
The peace that man disturbeth not,
The pure, free spirit's happy isle;
The words that glow, the eyes that sparkle,
The hand that melts and clings to mine,
The lips that smile when sorrows darkle,
As, when storms revel, beacons shine;

The flow, the mingled flow of mind,
Through science, fancy, art, and lore,
A feeling taste alike refined,
A blending of each other's store;
The perfect confidence, the thrill
When kindred spirits join their whole,
The joys unthought, untold, that fill,
When heart loves heart, and soul loves soul.