LADY ANNABEL.

She had suitors many, many,

The fair Lady Annabel,

But she loved him more than any,

For she knew he loved her well.

She was rich, but he was lowly,

Lowly in the world's esteem,

But that made her love more holy,

As the darkness gilds the beam;

For she knew his manly honour,

All the beauties of his mind,

And they sweetly stole upon her

Like the scent borne on the wind;

So she loved him ere she knew it,

Ere she thought to close her heart

‘ Gainst the tender spells that drew it

Evermore to take his part

When in idlesse or in malice

Others lightly spoke of him,

Careless that in his life's chalice

They poured sadness to the brim;

For he was a dreamer throughly,

Feeding on sweet Poesie,

And few knew his spirit truly,

And none prized it well as she;

But upon the thymy mosses,

With wild flowers by his side,

Blossoms that the summer glosses

For the brow of fairy bride,

He would lie and weave bright fancies

From the maze within his heart,

Which her gentle smiles and glances

Kindled with an angel's art;

For a firmament of beauty

Hung like heaven o'er his mind,

And it seem'd a sacred duty

To hymn all the fair it shrined;

So he praised her golden tresses,

And he thought them fair and soft

As the locks the sun caresses

On bright angels far aloft;

And her eyes so blue and tender,

Made for love to glisten through,

That their gentleness might render

Love as welcome as the dew;

And her cheeks with roses blushing,

And her lips with sunshine drest,

Her white bosom gently hushing

With its swells all ill to rest,

All came to him in his dreaming

Like things from another sphere,

Till bewildered by their gleaming

He felt only they were dear.

Must he perish, must he languish

For the love of one so fair,

Till the cruel sting of anguish

Change a blessing to despair?

He is poor, and favour never

Smiles on one so weak as he,

Poverty still comes to sever

All hopes of felicity.

But she loves him, and communion

With his soul gives strength to hers,

So they blend their lives in union

Careless of cold fashion's slurs;

She resigns what earth calls treasure,

Titled suitors, wealthy-dower,

That is commerce, she seeks pleasure,

For she knows life's but an hour,

Far too short and full of sadness,

Far too full of grief and pain,

For the heart to barter gladness

For a shadow or for gain;

So she fondly stood beside him,

And she placed her hand in his

With a smile that seem'd to chide him

For the shade that veil'd his bliss,

As he thought how he could duly

Make return for all her love,

Only could he serve her truly,

Love her as the light above;

And she said “We will live gaily

In some sylvan hermitage,

Worshipping all beauty daily,

Till my foolish heart grow sage;

We will have sweet flowers about us,

Birds to sing from every tree

No suspicious friends to doubt us,

So we must live merrily!”

Thus they went, and of their marriage

Jesting spake the giddy world;

Nobles, pillow'd in their carriage,

Laugh'd aloud with proud lips curled,

And fair ladies smiled their pity,

With a sigh for mortal folly,

Whilst rich merchants in the city

Frown'd, and called it, “Melancholy.”

What they said, or what they ponder'd

Little reck'd fair Annabel,

As with joyous hearts they wander'd

By green vale and shady dell;

And she cried “O! life was never

Made to be ambition's fool,

Bound in fashion's chains, and ever

Banish'd from the Beautiful!”