Lady Mabel
Side by side with Lady Mabel
Sate I, with the sunshade down;
In the distance hummed the Babel
Of the many-footed town;
There we sate with looks unstable–
Now of tenderness, of frown.
‘Must we part? or may I linger?
Wax the shadows, wanes the day.’
Then, with voice of sweetest singer
That hath all but died away,
‘Go,’ she said; but tightened finger
Said articulately, ‘Stay!’
Face to face with Lady Mabel,
With the gauzy curtains drawn,
Till a sense I am unable
To portray began to dawn;
Till the slant sun flung the gable
Far athwart the sleepy lawn.
‘Now I go. Adieu, adieu, love!
This is weakness; sweet, be strong.
Comes the footfall of the dew, love!
Philomel’s reminding song.’
‘Go,’ she said; ‘but I go too, love!
Go with you, my life along!’
Breast to breast with Lady Mabel,
Shrouded by the courteous night,
Baffling all the forms of fable
To describe our dreams aright;
And as pure as gifts of Abel,
In the Omnipresent sight.
