Book 2 — LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT[488:3]
Reading edition
LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT[488:3]
AN ALLEGORIC ROMANCE
Like a lone Arab, old and blind, Some caravan had left behind, Who sits beside a ruin'd well, Where the shy sand-asps bask and swell; And now he hangs his agéd head aslant, 5 And listens for a human sound—in vain! And now the aid, which Heaven alone can grant, Upturns his eyeless face from Heaven to gain;— Even thus, in vacant mood, one sultry hour, Resting my eye upon a drooping plant, 10 With brow low-bent, within my garden-bower, I sate upon the couch of camomile; And—whether 'twas a transient sleep, perchance, Flitted across the idle brain, the while I watch'd the sickly calm with aimless scope, 15 In my own heart; or that, indeed a trance, Turn'd my eye inward—thee, O genial Hope, Love's elder sister! thee did I behold, Drest as a bridesmaid, but all pale and cold, With roseless cheek, all pale and cold and dim, 20 Lie lifeless at my feet! And then came Love, a sylph in bridal trim, And stood beside my seat; She bent, and kiss'd her sister's lips, As she was wont to do;— 25 Alas! 'twas but a chilling breath Woke just enough of life in death To make Hope die anew. L'ENVOY In vain we supplicate the Powers above; There is no resurrection for the Love 30 That, nursed in tenderest care, yet fades away In the chill'd heart by gradual self-decay.
1833.
FOOTNOTES:
LINENOTES:
[
4
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Where basking Dipsads[489:A] hiss and swell F. O. 1834.
[
7
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And now] Anon F. O. 1834.
[
14
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Flitting across the idle sense the while F. O. 1834.
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27
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That woke enough F. O. 1834.
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29-32
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Idly we supplicate the Powers above: There is no resurrection for a Love That uneclips'd, unshadow'd, wanes away In the chill'd heart by inward self-decay. Poor mimic of the Past! the love is o'er That must resolve to do what did itself of yore.
Letter, April 27, 1824.