love poem

(A Quilt.)

One whose love will never end,
May this present, from a friend,
Bring to thee refreshing sleep,
While thy spirit angels keep.

Peaceful may thy slumbers be,
From the cares of time set free,
Till the dream of life is past —
Till we meet at home at last.

One sat within a hung and lighted room —
A little shape, with face between his wings,
And in the light made of all golden things
He seemed a warm and living rose abloom;
And one without sobbed in the night and gloom,
And all about him was a pilgrim's weed,
His little hands and cold he held for meed
Of his long waiting, sad as by a tomb:
He entered at the door, the other flew
Out at the casement — and with sudden day
The lamps burned faint, and he who came most new
Was fair, and he who went was wan and gray.

One little minute more, Maud,
— One little whisper more;
I have a word to speak, Maud,
— I never breathed before.
What can it be but love , Maud;
— And do I rightly guess
'Tis pleasant to your ear, Maud?
— O darling! tell me yes!

The burden of my heart, Maud,
— There's little need to tell;
There's little need to say, Maud,
— I've loved you long and well.
There's language in a sigh, Maud,
— One's meaning to express,
And yours — was it for me , Maud?
— O darling! tell me yes!

On the sea or in the air
God is with me ev'rywhere,
He will never let me go
For I know He loves me so;
Ev'ry day and ev'ry hour
He will keep me by His pow'r.

Du schones Fischermädchen

Oh lovely fishermaiden,
Come, bring your boat to land;
And we will sit together
And whisper, hand in hand.

Oh rest upon my bosom,
And fear no harm from me.
You give your body daily,
Unfearing to the sea. . . .

My heart is like the ocean
With storm and ebb and flow —
And many a pearly treasure
Burns in the depths below.

O love builds on the azure sea,
And Love builds on the golden sand;
And Love builds on the rose-winged cloud,
And sometimes Love builds on the land.

O, if Love build on sparkling sea,
And if Love build on golden strand,
And if Love build on rosy cloud,
To Love these are the solid land.

O, Love will build his lily walls,
And Love his pearly roof will rear,
On cloud, or land, or mist, or sea, —
Love's solid land is everywhere!

1. O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind There weeps a strain, Low,
2. And wake a whitewinged angel throng Of thought, illumed By
sad, and sweet, whose measures bind The power of pain,
faith, and breathed in raptured song, With love perfumed.

3. Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show
Life's burdens light.
I kiss the cross, and wake to know
A world more bright.

4. And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea
I see Christ walk,
And come to me, and tenderly,
Divinely talk.

5. Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock,

O thou, whose eyes were closed in death's pale night,
Ere fate revealed thee to my aching sight;
Ambiguous something, by no standard fixed,
Frail span, of naught and of existence mixed;
Embryo, imperfect as my tort'ring thought,
Sad outcast of existence and of naught;
Thou, who to guilty love first ow'st thy frame,
Whom guilty honour kills to hide its shame;
Dire offspring! formed by love's too pleasing pow'r!
Honour's dire victim in a luckless hour!
Soften the pangs that still revenge thy doom:

Foolish Lover, go and seek
For the damask of the Rose,
And the Lilies white dispose
To adorn thy mistresse cheek.

Steal some star out of the sky,
Rob the Phoenix, and the East
Of her wealthy sweets devest
To enrich her breath or eye.

We thy borrow'd pride despise,
For this wine (to which we are
Votaries) is richer farre
Then her cheek, or breath, or eyes.

And should that coy Fair one view
These diviner beauties, she
In this flame would rivall thee,

1. O Love that lights the eastern sky And shrouds the evening rest;
2. O life, content beneath the blue! Or, if God will the gray,
From out whose hand the swallows fly, Within whose heart they nest!
Then tranquil yet, till light breaks through To melt the mist away!

3. O death that sails so close to shore
At twilight! From my gate
I scan the darkening sea once more,
And for its message wait.

4. What lies beyond the afterglow?
To life's new dawn how far?
As if an answer, spoken low,
Love lights the evening star.