COMRADES, leave me here a little, while as yet 'tis early morn 'Tis the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call, Locksley Hall, that in the distance overlooks the sandy tracts, Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade, Here about the beach I wander'd, nourishing a youth sublime When I dipt into the future far as human eye could see; In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast; In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove; In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. Then her cheek was pale and thinner than should be for one so young, And I said, 'My cousin Amy, speak, and speak the truth to me, On her pallid cheek and forehead came a colour and a light, And she turn'd-her bosom shaken with a sudden storm of sighs- Saying, 'I have hid my feelings, fearing they should do me wrong;' Love took up the glass of Time, and turn'd it in his glowing hands ; Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might; Many a morning on the moorland did we hear the copses ring, Many an evening by the waters did we watch the stately ships, O my cousin, shallow-hearted! O my Amy, mine no more! Falser than all fancy fathoms, falser than all songs have sung, Yet it shall be thou shalt lower to his level day by day, He will hold thee, when his passion shall have spent its novel force, What is this? his eyes are heavy think not they are glazed with wine. It may be my lord is weary, that his brain is overwrought He will answer to the purpose, easy things to understand- Better thou and I were lying, hidden from the heart's disgrace, Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of youth! Cursed be the sickly forms that err from honest Nature's rule! Well-'tis well that I should bluster !-Hadst thou less unworthy proved- Am I mad, that I should cherish that which bears but bitter fruit? Never, tho' my mortal summers to such length of years should come I remember one that perish'd: sweetly did she speak and move: Can I think of her as dead, and love her for the love she bore? Comfort? comfort scorn'd of devils! this is truth the poet sings, Drug thy memories, lest thou learn it, lest thy heart be put to proof, Like a dog, he hunts in dreams, and thou art staring at the wall, Thou shalt hear the 'Never, never,' whisper'd by the phantom years, And a song from out the distance in the ringing of thine ears; And an eye shall vex thee, looking ancient kindness on thy pain. Nay, but Nature brings thee solace; for a tender voice will cry. Baby lips will laugh me down my latest rival brings thee rest. O, I see thee old and formal, fitted to thy petty part, With a little hoard of maxims preaching down a daughter's heart. 'They were dangerous guides the feelings-she herself was not exempt -Truly, she herself had suffer'd'—Perish in thy self-contempt ! Overlive it-lower yet-be happy! wherefore should I care? What is that which I should turn to, lighting upon days like these? Every gate is throng'd with suitors, all the markets overflow. I had been content to perish, falling on the foeman's ground, When the ranks are roll'd in vapour, and the winds are laid with sound. But the jingling of the guinea helps the hurt that Honour feels, Can I but relive in sadness? I will turn that earlier page. Make me feel the wild pulsation that I felt before the strife, Yearning for the large excitement that the coming years would yield, And at night along the dusky highway near and nearer drawn, And his spirit leaps within him to be gone before him then, |