The Poetical Works of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart. M.P Part 23

As some vast river, fresh'ning lands unknown Where never yet a human footstep trod, Leave the grand Song to flow majestic on And hymn delight, from all its waves, to G.o.d.

VIII.

A death-bell ceased;--beneath the vault were laid A great man's bones;--and when the rest were gone, Veil'd, and in sable widow-'d weeds array'd, An aged woman knelt upon the stone.

Low as she pray'd, the wailing notes were sweet With the strange music of a foreign tongue: Thrice to that spot came feeble, feebler feet, Thrice on that stone were humble garlands hung.

On the fourth day some formal hand in scorn The flowers that breathed of priestcraft cast away; But the poor stranger came not with the morn, And flowers forbidden deck'd no more the clay.

A heart was broken!--and a spirit fled!

Whither--let those who love and hope decide-- But in the faith that Love rejoins the dead, The heart was broken ere the garland died.

[F] Burnett.

EVA.

A TRUE STORY.

I.

THE MAIDEN'S HOME.

A cottage in a peaceful vale; A jasmine round the door; A hill to shelter from the gale; A silver brook before.

Oh, sweet the jasmine's buds of snow, In mornings soft with May; Oh, silver-clear the waves that flow, Reflecting heaven, away!

A sweeter bloom to Eva's youth Rejoicing Nature gave; And heaven was mirror'd in her truth More clear than on the wave.

Oft to that lone sequester'd place My boyish steps would roam, There was a look in Eva's face That seem'd a smile of home.

And oft I paused to hear at noon A voice that sang for glee; Or mark the white neck glancing down,-- The book upon the knee.--

II.

THE IDIOT BOY.

Who stands between thee and the sun?-- A cloud himself,--the Wandering One!

A vacant wonder in the eyes,-- The mind, a blank, unwritten scroll;-- The light was in the laughing skies, And darkness in the Idiot's soul.

He touch'd the book upon her knee-- He look'd into her gentle face-- "Thou dost not tremble, maid, to see Poor Arthur by thy dwelling-place.

I know not why, but where I pa.s.s The aged turn away; And if my shadow vex the gra.s.s, The children cease from play.

_My_ only playmates are the wind, The blossom on the bough!

"Why are thy looks so soft and kind?

Thou dost not tremble--thou!"

Though none were by, she trembled not-- Too meek to wound, too good to fear him; And, as he linger'd on the spot, She hid the tears that gush'd to hear him.--

III.

PRAYER OF ARTHUR'S FATHER.

"O Maiden!"--thus the sire begun-- "O Maiden, do not scorn my prayer: I have a hapless idiot son, To all my wealth the only heir; And day by day, in shine or rain, He wanders forth, to gaze again Upon those eyes, whose looks of kindness Still haunt him in his world of blindness; A sunless world!--all arts to yield Light to the mind from childhood seal'd Have been explored in vain.

Few are his joys on earth;--above, For every ill a cure is given-- G.o.d grant me life to cheer with love The wanderer's guileless path to Heaven."

He paused--his heart was full--"And now, What brings the suppliant father here?

Yes, few the joys that life bestows On him whose life is but repose-- One night, from year to year;-- Yet not so dark, O maid, if thou Couldst let his shadow catch thy light, Couldst to his lip that smile allow Which comes but at thy sight; Couldst--(for the smile is still so rare, And oh, so innocent the joy!) His presence, though it pain thee, bear, Nor fear the harmless idiot boy!"

Then Eva's father, from her brow Parted the golden locks, descending To veil the sweet face, downwards bending:-- And, pointing to the swimming eyes, The dew-drops glist'ning on the cheek, "Mourner!" _the happier_ father cries, "These tears her answer speak!"

Oh, sweet the jasmine's buds of snow, In mornings soft with May; Oh, silver-clear the waves that flow In summer skies away;-- But sweeter looks of kindness seem O'er human trouble bow'd, And gentle hearts reflect the beam Less truly than the cloud.

IV.

THE YOUNG TEACHER.

Of wonders on the land and deeps She spoke, and glories in the sky-- The Eternal life the Father keeps, For those who learn from Him to die.

So simply did the maiden speak-- So simply and so earnestly, You saw the light begin to break, And Soul the Heaven to see; You saw how slowly, day by day, The darksome waters caught the ray Confused and broken--come and gone-- The beams as yet uncertain are, But still the billows murmur on, And struggle for the star.

V.

THE STRANGER SUITOR.

There came to Eva's maiden home A Stranger from a sunnier clime; The lore that h.e.l.las taught to Rome, The wealth that Wisdom works from Time, Which ever, in its ebb and flow, Heaves to the seeker on the sh.o.r.e The waifs of glorious wrecks below, The argosies of yore;-- Each gem that in that dark profound The Past,--the Student's soul can find; Shone from his thought, and sparkled round The Enchanted Palace of the Mind.

In man's best years, his form was fair, Broad brow with hyacinth locks of hair; A port, though stately, not severe; An eye that could the heart control; A voice whose music to the ear, Became a memory to the soul.

It seem'd as Nature's hand had done Her most to mould her kingly son; But oft beneath the sunlit Nile The grim destroyer waits its prey, And dark, below that fatal smile, The lurking demon lay.

How trustful in the leafy June, She roved with him the lonely vale; How trustful by the tender moon, She blushed to hear a tenderer tale.

O happy Earth! the dawn revives, Day after day, each drooping flower-- Time to the heart _once_ only gives The joyous Morning Hour.

"To him--oh, wilt thou pledge thy youth, For whom the world's false bloom is o'er?

My heart shall haven in thy truth, And tempt the faithless wave no more.

In my far land, a sun more bright Sheds rose-hues o'er a tideless sea; But cold the wave, and dull the light, Without the sunshine found in thee.

Say, wilt thou come, the Stranger's bride, To that bright land and tideless sea?

There is no sun but by thy side-- My life's whole sunshine smiles in thee!"

Her hand lay trembling on his arm, Averted glow'd the happy face; A softer hue, a mightier charm, Grew mellowing o'er the hour--the place; Along the breathing woodlands moved A PRESENCE dream-like and divine-- How sweet to love and be beloved, To lean upon a heart that's thine!

Silence was o'er the earth and sky-- By silence Love is answer'd best-- _Her_ answer was the downcast eye, The rose-cheek pillow'd on his breast.

What rustles through the moonlit brake?

What sudden spectre meets their gaze?

What face, the hues of life forsake, Gleams ghost-like in the ghostly rays?

You might have heard his heart that beat, So heaving rose its heavy swell-- _No more the Idiot_--at her feet, The Dark One, roused to reason, fell.

Loosed the last link that thrall'd the thought, The lightning broke upon the blind-- The jealous love the cure had wrought, The Heart in waking woke the Mind.

VI.

THE MARRIAGE.

To and fro the bells are swinging, Cheerily, clearly, to and fro; Gaily go the young girls, bringing Flowers the fairest June may know.

Maiden, flowers that bloom'd and perish'd Strew'd thy path the bridal day; May the Hope thy soul has cherish'd, Bloom when these are pa.s.s'd away!

The Father's parting prayer is said, The daughter's parting kiss is given; The tears a happy bride may shed, Like dews ascend to heaven; And leave the earth from which they rise, But balmier airs, and rosier dyes.