Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Palabras Cariñosas

There is an hour when holy dreams.

Through slumber fairest glide;
And in that mystic hour it seems
Thou shouldst be by my side.

My thoughts of thee too sacred are
For daylight's common beam:

I can but know thee as my star,
My angel and my dream!

711

Edward George Earle Bulwer Lytton [1803-1873]

NOCTURNE

UP to her chamber window
A slight wire trellis goes,
And up this Romeo's ladder
Clambers a bold white rose.

I lounge in the ilex shadows,
I see the lady lean,
Unclasping her silken girdle,
The curtain's folds between.

She smiles on her white-rose lover,
She reaches out her hand
And helps him in at the window-
I see it where I stand!

To her scarlet lip she holds him,
And kisses him many a time—
Ah, me! it was he that won her
Because he dared to climb! .

Thomas Bailey Aldrich [1837-1907]

PALABRAS CARIÑOSAS

SPANISH AIR

GOOD-NIGHT! I have to say good-night
To such a host of peerless things!
Good-night unto the slender hand
All queenly with its weight of rings;

Good-night to fond, uplifted eyes,
Good-night to chestnut braids of hair,
Good-night unto the perfect mouth,
And all the sweetness nestled there-
The snowy hand detains me, then
I'll have to say Good-night again!

But there will come a time, my love,
When, if I read our stars aright,

I shall not linger by this porch

With my farewells. Till then, good-night!
You wish the time were now? And I.
You do not blush to wish it so?

You would have blushed yourself to death
To own so much a year ago--

What, both these snowy hands! ah, then
I'll have to say Good-night again!

Thomas Bailey Aldrich [1837-1907]

SERENADE

THE western wind is blowing fair
Across the dark Ægean sea,
And at the secret marble stair

My Tyrian galley waits for thee.
Come down! the purple sail is spread,

The watchman sleeps within the town; O leave thy lily-flowered bed,

O Lady mine, come down, come down!

[ocr errors]

She will not come, I know her well,

Of lover's vows she hath no care,

And little good a man can tell
Of one so cruel and so fair.

True love is but a woman's toy,

They never know the lover's pain,

And I, who love as loves a boy,

Must love in vain, must love in vain.

The Little Red Lark

O noble pilot, tell me true,

Is that the sheen of golden hair? Or is it but the tangled dew

That binds the passion-flowers there? Good sailor, come and tell me now,

Is that my Lady's lily hand?
Or is it but the gleaming prow,
Or is it but the silver sand?

No! no! 'tis not the tangled dew,
'Tis not the silver-fretted sand,
It is my own dear Lady true
With golden hair and lily hand!
O noble pilot, steer for Troy!

Good sailor, ply the laboring oar!
This is the Queen of life and joy

Whom we must bear from Grecian shore!

[ocr errors]

The waning sky grows faint and blue;
It wants an hour still of day;
Aboard! aboard! my gallant crew,
O Lady mine, away! away!
O noble pilot, steer for Troy!
Good sailor, ply the laboring oar!

O loved as only loves a boy!

O loved for ever, evermore!

713

Oscar Wilde [1856-1900]

THE LITTLE RED LARK

O SWAN of slenderness,

Dove of tenderness,

Jewel of joys, arise!

The little red lark,.
Like a soaring spark

Of song, to his sunburst flies;

But till thou art arisen,

Earth is a prison,

Full of my lonesome sighs:

Then awake and discover,

To thy fond lover,

The morn of thy matchless eyes.

The dawn is dark to me,
Hark! oh, hark to me,

Pulse of my heart, I pray!
And out of thy hiding
With blushes gliding,

Dazzle me with thy day.
Ah, then once more to thee
Flying I'll pour to thee
Passion so sweet and gay,
The larks shall listen,

And dew-drops glisten,

Laughing on every spray.

Alfred Perceval Graves [1846

SERENADE

By day my timid passions stand

Like begging children at your gate,
Each with a mute, appealing hand
To ask a dole of Fate;

But when night comes, released from doubt,
Like merry minstrels they appear,
The stars ring out their hopeful shout,
Beloved, can you hear?

They dare not sing to you by day

Their all-desirous song, or take
The world with their adventurous lay

For your enchanted sake.

But when the night-wind wakes and thrills

The shadows that the night unbars,

Their music fills the dreamy hills,

And folds the friendly stars.

Beloved, can you hear? They sing

Words that no mortal lips can sound; Love through the world has taken wing, My passions are unbound.

And now, and now, my lips, my eyes,

Are stricken dumb with hope and fear,

It is my burning soul that cries,

Beloved, can you hear?

Richard Middleton [1882-1911]

THE COMEDY OF LOVE

A LOVER'S LULLABY

SING lullaby, as women do,

Wherewith they bring their babes to rest; And lullaby can I sing too,

As womanly as can the best.
With lullaby they still the child;
And if I be not much beguiled,
Full many a wanton babe have I,
Which must be stilled with lullaby.

First lullaby my youthful years,
It is now time to go to bed:
For crooked age and hoary hairs

Have won the haven within head.

my

With lullaby, then, youth be still;

With lullaby content thy will;

Since courage quails and comes behind,
Go sleep, and so beguile thy mind!

Next lullaby my gazing eyes,

Which wonted were to glance apace;

For every glass may now suffice
To show the furrows in thy face.

With lullaby then wink awhile;
With lullaby your looks beguile;
Let no fair face, nor beauty bright,
Entice you eft with vain delight.

And lullaby my wanton will;

Let reason's rule now reign thy thought;

Since all too late I find by skill

How dear I have thy fancies bought;

« ÎnapoiContinuă »