The summer Night comes brooding down on Earth,
As Love comes brooding down on human hearts,
With bliss that hath no utterance save rich tears.
She floats in fragrance down the smiling dark,
Foldeth a kiss upon the lips of Life,—
Curtaineth into rest the weary world,—
And shuts us in with all our hid delights.
The Stars come sparkling thro’ the gorgeous gloom,
Like dew-drops in the fields of heaven; or tears
That hang rich jewels on the cheeks of Night.
A spirit-feel is in the solemn air.
The Flowers fold their cups like praying hands,
And with droopt heads await the blessing, Night
Gives with her silent magnanimity.
’Tis evening with the world; but, in my soul
The light of wedded love is still at dawn!
And skies my world, an everlasting Dawn.
My heart rings out in music, like a lark
Hung in the charmed palace of the Morn,
That circles singing to its mate i’ the nest,
With luminous being running o’er with song:
So my heart flutters round its mate at home!
There, with her eyes turned to her heart, she reads
The golden secrets written on its heaven,
And broodeth o’er its panting wealth of love.
As Night i’ the hush and hallow of her beauty
Bares throbbing heaven to its most tremulous depths,
And broods in silence o’er her starry wealth.
And, fingering in her bosom’s soft, white nest,
A fair babe, beautiful as Dawn in heaven,
Made of a Mother’s richest thoughts of love,—
Lies like a smile of sunshine among lilies,
That giveth glory—drinketh fragrant life!
Sweet bud upon a Rose! our plot of spring,
That bursts in bloom amid a wintry world!
How dear it is to mark th’ immortal life
Deepen, and darken, in her large, round eyes,—
To watch Life’s rose of dawn put forth its leaves,
And guess the perfumed secret of its heart—
And catch the silver words that come to break
The golden silence hung like heaven around.
But soft I Elysium opens in my brain!
Dear Wife! with sweet, low voice, she syllables
Some precious music balm’d in her heart’s book,
And I am flooded with melodious rain,
Like Nature standing crown’d with sunlit showers .