James Russell Lowell

Self-Study

A presence both by night and day,
 That made my life seem just begun,
Yet scarce a presence, rather say
 The warning aureole of one.
 
And yet I felt it everywhere;
 Walked I the woodland’s aisles along,
It seemed to brush me with its hair;
 Bathed I, I heard a mermaid’s song.
 
How sweet it was! A buttercup
 Could hold for me a day’s delight,
A bird could lift my fancy up
 To ether free from cloud or blight.
 
Who was the nymph? Nay, I will see,
 Methought, and I will know her near;
If such, divined, her charm can be,
 Seen and possessed, how triply dear!
 
So every magic art I tried,
 And spells as numberless as sand,
Until, one evening, by my side
 I saw her glowing fulness stand.
 
I turned to clasp her, but ‘Farewell,’
 Parting she sighed, ‘we meet no more;
Not by my hand the curtain fell
 That leaves you conscious, wise, and poor.
 
’Since you nave found me out, I go;
 Another lover I must find,
Content his happiness to know,
 Nor strive its secret to unwind.
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