THE HAPPY HUSBAND

Oft, oft methinks, the while with thee,

I breathe, as from the heart, thy dear

And dedicated name, I hear

A promise and a mystery,

A pledge of more than passing life,

Yea, in that very name of Wife!

A pulse of love, that ne'er can sleep!

A feeling that upbraids the heart

With happiness beyond desert,

That gladness half requests to weep!

Nor bless I not the keener sense

And unalarming turbulence

Of transient joys, that ask no sting

From jealous fears, or coy denying;

But born beneath Love's brooding wing,

And into tenderness soon dying,

Wheel out their giddy moment, then

Resign the soul to love again;—

A more precipitated vein

Of notes, that eddy in the flow

Of smoothest song, they come, they go,

And leave their sweeter understrain,

Its own sweet self — a love of Thee

That seems, yet cannot greater be!