Classic Poem

XXI.

“Though this were sure that sounds so strange,
Yet need we not at once decide;
Perhaps your father's mind may change,
And hopes be ours now undescried.

XXII.

“Your love is not forbidden yet;
It shames not you, it blesses me.
The past we never can forget,
And happier may the future be.”

XXIII.

The evening came, and trembling stood
The lover at the father's door,
And found within the maid he wooed,
And that old man so bent and hoar.

XXIV.

Their trimmest garb had each put on,
Around was neatness, comfort, cheer;
The clouds appeared to distance gone,
And Jane's bright face bespoke not fear.

XXV.

She sat upon her mother's chair,
And poured the drink that Henry loved;
Her tea with him 'twas joy to share,
And sit beside him unreproved.

XXVI.

And close beside the blazing fire
Was placed the old man's easy seat;
The flames, now low, then shooting higher,
Cast o'er him glimpses bright and fleet.

XXVII.

They showed a face more soft than bold,
Though keen the look of settled will;
With lines that many winters told,
But little change of good and ill.

XXVIII.

And thus the untroubled, aged man,
His long-experienced lesson spake,
In words that painfully began,
While slow his pondering seemed to wake:—

XXIX.

“Perhaps you think, dear daughter Jane,
My wishes neither kind nor wise,
Because I keep a sober brain,
And look about with wistful eyes.

XXX.

“Yet surely I have lived and wrought
More years than you, or he you love;
And it must be a foolish thought
Of yours that I cannot approve.