Auld Lang Syne: Selections from the Papers of the "Pen and Pencil Club."

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private circulation, 1877 - English literature - 176 pages
 

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Page 75 - they said to him ; " come away ; Kiss her and leave her, — thy love is clay ! " They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair; On her forehead of stone they laid it fair ; Over her eyes that gazed too much They drew the lids with a gentle touch ; With a tender touch they closed up well The sweet thin lips that had secrets to tell ; About her brows and beautiful face They tied her veil and her...
Page 77 - Ah, foolish world; oh, most kind dead ! Though he told me, who will believe it was said? Who will believe that he heard her say, With the sweet, soft voice, in the dear old way: " The utmost wonder is this — I hear And see you, and love you, and kiss you, dear; " And am your angel, who was your bride, And know that, though dead, I have never died.
Page 75 - God understands! " And then there was Silence; — and nothing there But the Silence— and scents of eglantere, And jasmine, and roses, and rosemary; For they said, "As a lady should lie, lies she! " And they held their breath as they left the room, With a shudder to glance at its stillness and gloom. But he — who loved her too well to dread The sweet, the stately, the beautiful dead, — He lit his lamp, and took the key, And turn'd it!
Page 76 - Dumb to the ear and still to the sense, But to heart and to soul distinct, intense ? "See now; I will listen with soul, not ear; What was the secret of dying, dear ? "Was it the infinite wonder of all That you ever could let life's flower fall ? " Or was it a greater marvel to feel The perfect calm o'er the agony steal ?
Page 76 - Or was it a greater marvel to feel The perfect calm o'er the agony steal? " Was the miracle greater to find how deep Beyond all dreams sank downward that sleep?
Page 151 - Shall we row higher, for the reeds are fewer, There by the pollards, where you see the swan ? JACK. Hist ! That's a pike. Look, — note against the river, Gaunt as a wolf, — the sly old privateer, Enter a gudgeon. Snap, — a gulp, a shiver ; — Exit the gudgeon. Let us anchor here. FRANK. {In the grass.) Jove, what a day ! Black Care upon the crupper Nods at his post, and slumbers in the sun, Half of Theocritus, with a touch of Tupper Chums in my head.
Page 77 - twere your hot tears upon my brow shed. " I would say though the angel of death had laid His sword on my lips to keep it unsaid. " You should not ask, vainly, with streaming eyes, Which in Death's touch was the chiefest surprise; " The very strangest and suddenest thing Of all the surprises that dying must bring." Ah! foolish world! Oh! most kind Dead! Though he told me, who will believe it was said? Who will believe that he heard her say, With the soft rich voice, in the dear old way: — " The...
Page 76 - And was it the innermost heart of the bliss To find out so, what a wisdom love is ? "O perfect dead! O dead most dear ! I hold the breath of my soul to hear. " I listen as deep as to horrible hell, As high as to heaven, and you do not tell.
Page 75 - And they held their breath as they left the room, With a shudder to glance at its stillness and gloom. But he — who loved her too well to dread The sweet, the stately, the beautiful dead — He lit his lamp, and took the key, And turned it! Alone again — he and she! He and she; but she would not speak, Though he kissed, in the old place, the quiet cheek. He and she ; yet she would not smile, Though he called her the name that was fondest erewhile.

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