Volume Ii Part 165 (1/2)
TWO LOVERS
Two lovers by a moss-grown spring: They leaned soft cheeks together there, Mingled the dark and sunny hair, And heard the wooing thrashes sing.
O budding time!
O love's blest prime!
Two wedded from the portal stept: The bells made happy carolings, The air was soft as fanning wings, White petals on the pathway slept.
O pure-eyed bride!
O tender pride!
Two faces o'er a cradle bent: Two hands above the head were locked: These pressed each other while they rocked, Those watched a life that love had sent.
O solemn hour!
O hidden power!
Two parents by the evening fire: The red light fell about their knees On heads that rose by slow degrees Like buds upon the lily spire.
O patient life!
O tender strife!
The two still sat together there, The red light shone about their knees; But all the heads by slow degrees Had gone and left that lonely pair.
O voyage fast!
O vanished past!
The red light shone upon the floor And made the s.p.a.ce between them wide; They drew their chairs up side by side, Their pale cheeks joined, and said, ”Once more!”
O memories!
O past that is!
George Eliot [1819-1880]
THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE
”Somewhere,” he mused, ”its dear enchantments wait, That land, so heavenly sweet; Yet all the paths we follow, soon or late, End in the desert's heat.
”And still it lures us to the eager quest, And calls us day by day”-- ”But I,” she said, her babe upon her breast ”But I have found the way.”
”Some time,” he sighed, ”when youth and joy are spent, Our feet the gates may win”-- ”But I,” she smiled, with eyes of deep content, ”But I have entered in.”
Emily Huntington Miller [1833-1913]
MY AIN WIFE
I wadna gi'e my ain wife For ony wife I see; I wadna gi'e my ain wife For ony wife I see; A bonnier yet I've never seen, A better canna be-- I wadna gi'e my ain wife For ony wife I see!