VII. HER SHADOW.

At matin time where creepers interlace

We sauntered slowly, for we loved the place,

And talked of passing things; I, pleased to trace

Through leafy mimicry the true leaves made,

The stateliness and beauty of her shade;

A wavering of strange purples dimly seen,

It gloomed the daisy's light, the kingcup's sheen,

And drank up sunshine from the vital green.

That silent shadow moving on the grass

Struck me with terror it should ever pass

And be blank nothing in the coming years

Where, in the dreadful shadow of my fears,

Her shrouded form I saw through blurring tears,

My Darling's shrouded form in beauty's bloom

Born with funereal sadness to her tomb.

“What idle dreaming,” I abruptly cried:

My Lady turned, half startled, at my side,

And looked inquiry: I, through shame or pride,

Bantered the words as mockery of sense,

Mere aimless freak of fostered indolence.

She did not urge me; gentle, wise, and kind!

But clasped my hand and talked: her beaming mind

Arrayed in brightness all it touched. Behind,

Her shadow fell forgot, as she and I

Went homeward musing, smiling at the sky.

Thro’ pastures and thro’ fields where corn grew strong;

By cottage nests that could not harbour wrong;

Across the bridge where laughed the stream; along

The road to where her gabled mansion stood,

Old, tall, and spacious, in a massy wood.

We loitered toward the porch; but paused meanwhile

Where Psyche holds a dial to beguile

The hours of sunshine by her golden smile;

And holds it like a goblet brimmed with wine,

Nigh clad in trails of tangled eglantine.

In the deep peacefulness which shone around

My soul was soothed: no darksome vision frowned

Before my sight while cast upon the ground

Where Psyche's and My Lady's shadows lay,

Twin graces on the flower-edged gravel way.

I then but yearned for Titian's glorious power,

That I by toiling one devoted hour,

Might check the march of Time, and leave a dower

Of rich delight that beauty I could see,

For broadening generations yet to be.