Æternall love! what 'tis to love thee well,
None, but himselfe, who feeles it, none can tell.
But oh, what to be lov'd of thee as well,
None, not himselfe, who feeles it, none can tell.

M Y Love, I have no fear that thou shouldst die;
Albeit I ask no fairer life than this,
Whose numbering-clock is still thy gentle kiss,
While Time and Peace with hands enlockëd fly;
Yet care I not where in Eternity
We live and love, well knowing that there is
No backward step for those who feel the bliss
Of Faith as their most lofty yearnings high:
Love hath so purified my being's core,
Meseems I scarcely should be startled, even,
To find, some morn, that thou hadst gone before;
Since, with thy love, this knowledge too was given,

In the quiet summer twilight,
Midst the glowing crimson bars
That the fading sunlight painted,
Glimmered out two beauteous stars.

Both were bright, but one was peerless,
And I fondly named it thine;
As they seemed to love each other,
Fancy called the pale one mine.

Lovingly they shone together,
Making heaven around them bright,
While the silent hours went trooping
Through the solemn halls of night.

Till a leaden cloud came over,
Like a messenger of doom,
And concealed the brightest jewel
In the foldings of its gloom.

From Love, from angry Love's inclement reign
I pass awhile to Friendship's equal skies;
Thou, generous Maid! reliev'st my partial pain,
And eheer'st the victim of another's eyes.

'Tis thou, Melissa, thou deserv'st my care;
How can my will and reason disagree?
How can my passion live beneath despair?
How can my bosom sigh for aught but thee?

Ah! dear Melissa! pleased with thee to rove,
My soul has yet survived its dreariest time;
Ill can I bear the various clime of Love!
Love is a pleasing, but a various clime.

Is life a dream, and death a sleep, and love
The only thing immortal? Who would care
To be received into the ambient air,
Or traverse æther like a cloud, above
The happy homes of mortals? Must the soul
Be formlessly absorbed into the infinite whole?

The shining cup of earthly joy
I took with praise to Thee,
And held it dear because it was
Thy loving cup to me.

The jewelled cup of earthly joy
I kissed for love of Thee,
Because within its limpid depths
Thine image I could see.

I drank the cup of earthly joy
With many a thought of Thee,
And drinking it, I seemed to taste
Perfect felicity.

But now the cup of earthly joy
No longer flows for me,
Lest I should satisfy my soul
With something less than Thee.

Look from thy lattice, love—
Listen to me!
The cool, balmy breeze
Is abroad on the sea!
The moon, like a queen,
Roams her realms above,
And naught is awake
But the spirit of love.
Ere morn's golden light
Tips the hills with its ray,
Away o'er the waters—
Away and away!
Then look from thy lattice, love—
Listen to me.
While the moon lights the sky,
And the breeze curls the sea!
Look from thy lattice, love—
Listen to me!
In the voyage of life,
Love our pilot will be!
He'll sit at the helm
Wherever we rove,

The fisher's clothes, though cheap, withstand
The drenching they receive;
But see! my floods of tears have blurred
The colours of my sleeve,
As for thy love I grieve.

I just give you what I've got, dear comrades:
The little things here and there of no consequence born of my love:
The words of my heart addressing themselves to you: the plain simple words of my loyal faith:
I have nothing else to give, but I give you that wholly, without asking any questions:
Coming to you with joy, visiting you with confidence, yet sending no boisterous couriers ahead to promise you anything:
You, all of you, to whom I belong: you, all of you, who belong to me: the somebodies, the nobodies:

Those tender ties are sundered now,—
This heart is doomed to die;
Vain is the oft-repeated vow,
And vain the pensive sigh;
The morning breaks so lone and sad
Upon my wakeful eye,
And I have none to make me glad
Beneath the sunlit sky.

O! tell me where sweet comfort flows,
And where the cheering beams?
Sweet solace for these latent woes,
And living crystal streams?
And where is love, unchanging love,
Love that can never die?
Not on this earth; 'tis formed above,
In fairer climes on high!

Once I had love, so pure and fair,