Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1858-11-06
Lines to a Lady.
BIT GEORGE d. PRENTICE.

Lady, love, at eventide,
When stars, as now, are on the wave,
To stray in loneliness, and muse
Upon the one dear form that gave
Its sunlight to my bOyhOOd; oft
That same sweet look sinks, Etill and soft,
Upon my spirit, and appears
AS lovely AZ in by-gOne years.
Ewes low, faint wind is breathing now,
With deep and sOullike murmuring,
Through the dark pines; aUd thy sweet words
Seem bOrHe On its mysterious wing;
And Oft, mid musings sad and lone,
AZ nights deep noon, that thrilling tone
Swells in the wind, low, wild. aud clear,
Like music in the dreaming ar.
When sleeps calm wing is on my brow,
And dreams of peace my spirit lull,
Before me, like misty star,
That form floats dim aud beautiful,
And, when the gentle moonbeam smiles
On the blue streams and dark green isles,
In evdry ray pOur'd down the sky,
That same light form seems stealing by.
1t is blessed picture, shrincd
In melnOry's urn; the wing Of years
Can change it not, for there it CLOVIS,
UndiInmd d BY weaknesses and tears !"
Decp-hidden in its still recess,
II beams with love and holiness,
Ger hours OF being, dark and dull,
Till life seems almost beautiful.
The vision cannot fade away;
'Tis in the stiffness Of my heart,
And Ger its brightness have unused
In solitude; il is part
Of my existence; u dear flower
Blcathed on by Heaven: morn's earliest hour
That Hover bcdews, and its blue eye
Ateve still rests upon the sky.
Lady, like thine, my visions cling
10 the dear shrine OF buried wears;
The past, the past il is too bright,
Too deeply beautiful for tears;
We have been bless d ; though life is made
tear, a silence, and II shade,
And wears have left the vacant breast
To lOncineSs-we have been blesSd!
Those still, those soft, those summer eyes,
W hen by our favorite stream we stood,
And watclld our mingling shadows there,
Soft pictured in the deep-blue flood,
Secnd one enchantnIcnt. y! we felt,
rs there, at loves pure shrine, we knelt,
That life was sweet and all its hours
Il glorious dream Of love and flowers,
Aud still It's sweet. Our hopes went by
Like sounds upon the unbroken sea
l"t memory wings the spirit back
To deep, undying melody;
And still, around her early shrine,
icSh hoWcIH thclT ueNy cnupletS tWlnc,
Young Love his brightest garland wreathcs,
And Eden's richest incense breathes.
Our hopes are hown-yet parted hours
Still in the depths Of memory lie,
Like nigh-genrS in the silent blue
Of summers deep and brilliant sky;
And Loves bright flashes seem again
To fall upon the glowing chain
Of our existence. Can it be
That all is but mockcry?
Lady, adieu! 10 other climes -
g". from joy, and hope, and thee;
A weed on Times dark waters thrown,
A wreck on liic's wild hcaving sea
| 70; but o. the past. the past
Its spell is DER my being casf,-
And still. to Loves Remembered ewes,
With ali but hope, my spirit clCaves.
Adcu. Odieu! NY farewell words
Are on my Tyre. and their wild flow
Is EIin'ly dying on the chords
Broken and tunclcss. Bt it so!
Thy name-O, may il never swell
My strain ngain-yct long twill dwell
Shrned in my heart, unbrrathCd, unspokcu--
A treasured word-a cherish'd token.