Oh! yet one smile, tho’ dark may lower
Around thee clouds of woe and ill,
Let me yet feel that I have power,
Mid Fate’s bleak storms, to soothe thee still.
Tho’ sadness be upon thy brow,
Yet let it turn, dear love, to me,
I cannot bear that thou should’st know
Sorrow I do not share with thee.
True love’s wreath is of mountain flowers,
They stand the storm and brave the blast,
And blossom on, so love like ours
Is sweetest when all else is past.
Too well I know what storms have frowned,
And now frown on life’s troubled tide;
Still darker let them gather round,
They have no power on hearts so tried.
Then say not that you may not bear,
To shadow spirit light as mine;
I shall not shrink, or fear to share
The darkest fate if it be thine!
*
Oh! say not love was never made
For heart so light as mine;
Must love then seek the cypress shade,
Rear but a gloomy shrine.
Oh! say not, that for me more meet
The revelry of youth;
Or that my wild heart cannot beat
With deep devoted truth.
Tho’ mirth may many changes ring,
’Tis but an outward show,
Even upon the fond dove’s wing
Will varying colours glow.
Light smiles upon my lip may gleam
And sparkle o’er my brow,
’Tis but the glisten of the stream
That hides the gold below.
’Tis love that gilds the mirthful hour,
That lights the smile for me,
Those smiles would instant lose their power,
Did they not glance on thee!
*
Oh! come to my slumber
Sweet dreams of my love,
I have hung the charmed wreath
My soft pillow above.
The roses are linked
In a chain pure and white;
And the rose-leaves are wet
With the dew drops of night.
The moon was on high
As I gather’d each flower;
The dew that then falls
Has a magical power.
The Spirit of slumber
Those roses has blest;
And sweet are the visions
They’ll bring to my rest.
Be their spell on my soul,
So they let me but see
His dark eyes flash in love
And his smile glance on me.
Let sleep bring the image
Of him far away;
’Tis worth all the tears
I shed for him by day.
I have hung the charmed wreath
My soft pillow above;
Then come to my slumber,
Sweet dreams of my love!
Not the brightest bulb in the pack when it comes to poetry and prose, but this gal certainly pushed the Victorian envelope! Whew...