Celia Thaxter

Presage

IF, some day, I should seek those eyes
    So gentle now, —and find the strange,
    Pale shadow of a coming change,
To chill me with a sad surprise;
 
Shouldst thou recall what thou hast given,
    And turn me slowly cold and dumb,
    And thou thyself again become
Remote as any star in heaven;
 
Would the sky ever seem again
    Perfectly clear? Would the serene,
    Sweet face of nature steal between
This grief and me, to dull its pain?
 
Oh not for many a weary day
    Would sorrow soften to regret,
    And many a sun would rise and set
Ere I, with cheerful heart, could say:
 
“All undeserved it came. To-day,
    God takes it back again, because
    Too beautiful a thing it was
For such as I to keep for aye.”
 
And ever, through the coming years,
    My star, remote in happy skies,
    Would seem more heavenly fair through eyes
Yet tremulous with unfallen tears.
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