wind through cave and bower, 35 A perilous delight!?for then first woke My life's lone passion, the mysterious quest Of secret knowledge; and each tone that broke From the wood-arches or the fountain's breast, Making my quick soul vibrate as a lyre, 40 But ministered to that strange inborn fire. 'Midst the bright silence of the mountain dells, In noon-tide hours or golden summer-eves, My thoughts have burst forth as a gale that swells Into a rushing blast, and from the leaves 45 Shakes out response. O thou rich world unseen! Thou curtained realm of spirits! ?thus my cry Hath troubled air and silence?dost thou lie Spread all around, yet by some filmy screen Shut from us ever? The resounding woods, 50 Do their depths teem with marvels?-?and the floods, And the pure fountains, leading secret veins Of quenchless melody through rock and hill, Have they bright dwellers??are their lone domains Peopled with beauty, which may never still 55 Our weary thirst of soul??Cold, weak and cold, Is earth's vain language, piercing not one fold Of our deep being! Oh, for gifts more high! For a seer's glance to rend mortality! For a charmed rod, to call from each dark shrine 60 The oracles divine!
I woke from those high fantasies, to know My kindred with the earth?I woke to love:
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87 4 / FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS
0 gentle friend! to love in doubt and woe, Shutting the heart the worshipped name above,
65 Is to love deeply?and my spirit's dower Was a sad gift, a melancholy power Of so adoring?with a buried care, And with the o'erflowing of a voiceless prayer, And with a deepening dream, that day by day,
70 In the still shadow of its lonely sway, Folded me closer, till the world held nought Save the one being to my centred thought.
There was no music but his voice to hear, No joy but such as with his step drew near;
75 Light was but where he looked?life where he moved; Silently, fervently, thus, thus I loved. Oh! but such love is fearful!?and I knew Its gathering doom:?the soul's prophetic sight Even then unfolded in my breast, and threw
so O'er all things round a full, strong, vivid light, Too sorrowfully clear!?an undertone Was given to Nature's harp, for me alone Whispering of grief.?Of grief??be strong, awake, Hath not thy love been victory, O, my soul?
85 Hath not its conflict won a voice to shake Death's fastnesses??a magic to control Worlds far removed? ?from o'er the grave to thee Love hath made answer; and thy tale should be Sung like a lay of triumph!?Now return,
90 And take thy treasure from its bosomed urn,2 And lift it once to light!
In fear, in pain, 1 said I loved?but yet a heavenly strain Of sweetness floated down the tearful stream, A joy flashed through the trouble of my dream!
95 I knew myself beloved!?we breathed no vow, No mingling visions might our fate allow, As unto happy hearts; but still and deep, Like a rich jewel gleaming in a grave, Like golden sand in some dark river's wave,
IOO So did my soul that costly knowledge keep So jealously!0?a thing o'er which to shed, watchfully When stars alone beheld the drooping head, Lone tears! yet ofttimes burdened with the excess Of our strange nature's quivering happiness.
105 But, oh! sweet friend! we dream not of love's might Till death has robed with soft and solemn light The image we enshrine!?Before that hour, We have but glimpses of the o'ermastering power Within us laid!?then doth the spirit-flame
110 With sword-like lightning rend its mortal frame;
2. Suggests an urn in which funerary ashes are kept.
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A SPIRIT'S RETURN / 87 5
The wings of that which pants to follow fast Shake their clay-bars, as with a prisoned blast? The sea is in our souls!
He died?he died On whom my lone devotedness was cast!
1 is I might not keep one vigil by his side, I, whose wrung heart watched with him to the last! I might not once his fainting head sustain, Nor bathe his parched lips in the hour of pain, Nor say to him, 'Farewell!'?He passed away?
120 Oh! had my love been there, its conquering sway Had won him back from death! but thus removed, Borne o'er the abyss no sounding-line hath proved, Joined with the unknown, the viewless?he became Unto my thoughts another, yet the same?
125 Changed?hallowed?glorified!?and his low grave Seemed a bright mournful altar?mine, all mine:? Brother and friend soon left me that sole shrine, The birthright of the faithful!?their world's wave Soon swept them from its brink.?Oh! deem thou not
130 That on the sad and consecrated spot My soul grew weak!?I tell thee that a power There kindled heart and lip?a fiery shower My words were made?a might was given to prayer, And a strong grasp to passionate despair, 135 And a dead triumph!?Know'st thou what I sought? For what high boon my struggling spirit wrought?? Communion with the dead!?I sent a cry, Through the veiled empires of eternity, A voice to cleave them! By the mournful truth, HO By the lost promise of my blighted youth, By the strong chain a mighty love can bind On the beloved, the spell of mind o'er mind; By words, which in themselves are magic high, Armed and inspired, and winged with agony; 145 By tears, which comfort not, but burn, and seem
To bear the heart's blood in their passion stream; I summoned, I adjured!'?with quickened sense, entreated With the keen vigil of a life intense,
I watched, an answer from the winds to wring,
150 I listened, if perchance the stream might bring Token from worlds afar: I taught one sound Unto a thousand echoes?one profound Imploring accent to the tomb, the sky? One prayer to night?'Awake, appear, reply!'
155 Hast thou been told that from the viewless bourne,0 invisible region The dark way never hath allowed
