# At the Opera

The curtain rose — the play began —  The limelight on the gay garbs shone;
 Yet carelessly I gazed upon
The painted players, maid and man,
 As one with idle eyes who sees
 The marble figures on a frieze.
Long lark-notes clear the first act close,
 So the soprano: then a hush —  The tenor, tender as a thrush;
Then loud and high the chorus rose,
 Till, with a sudden rush and strong,
 It ended in a storm of song.
The curtain fell — the music died —  The lights grew bright, revealing there
 The flash of jewelled fingers fair,
And wreaths of pearls on brows of pride;
 Then, with a quick-flushed cheek, I turned,
 And into mine her dark eyes burned.
Such eyes but once a man may see,
 And, seeing once, his fancy dies
 To thought of any other eyes:
So shadow-soft, they seemed to be
 Twin haunted lakes, lit by the gleams
 Of a mysterious moon of dreams.
Silk lashes veiled their liquid light
 With such a shade as tall reeds fling
 From the lake-marge at sunsetting:
Their darkness might have hid the night —  Yet whoso saw their glance would say
 Night dreamt therein, and saw the day.
Long looked I at them, wondering
 What tender memories were hid
 Beneath each blue-veined lily-lid;
What hopes of joys the years would bring;
 What grief? In vain: I might not guess
 The secret of their silentness.
What of her face? Her face, meseems,
 Was such as painters see who muse
 By moonlight in dim avenues,
Yet cannot paint; or as in dreams,
 Young poets see, but, when they try
 To limn in verse are dumb — so I.
Yet well I know that I have seen
 That sweet face in the long ago
 In a rose-bower — well I know — Laughing the singing leaves between,
 In that strange land of rose and rhyme —  The land of Once upon a Time.
unknown sweet, so sweetly known,
 I know not what your came may be —  Madonna is your name for me
Nor where your lines in life are thrown;
 But soul sees soul — what is the rest?
 A passing phantom at the best.
Did your young bosom never glow
 To love? or burns your heart beneath
 As burns the rosebud in its sheath?
I neither know nor wish to know:
 I smell the rose upon the tree;
 Who will may pluck and wear, for me —
May wear the rose, and watch it die,
 And, leaf by red leaf, fade and fall,
 Till there be nothing left at all
Of its sweet loveliness; but I
 Love it so well, I leave it free —  The scent alone I take with me!
As one who visits sacred spots
 Brings tokens back, so I from you
 A glance, a smile, a rapture new!
And these are my forget-me-nots!
 I take from you but only these —  Give all the rest to whom you please.
Sweet eyes, your glance a light shall cast
 On me, when dreaded ghosts arise
 Of dead regrets with shrouded eyes,
And phantoms of the perished past,
 Old thoughts, old hopes, and old desire
 Gather around my lonely fire!
Farewell! In rhyme, I kiss your hand —  Kiss not unsweet, although unheard! —  This is our secret — say no word — That I have been in Fairyland,
 And seen for one brief moment's space
 The Queen Titania face to face.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:
* published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
* anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
* government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).
This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.
Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse