Impressions: A Book of Verse/Song 3

by Lilla Cabot Perry

 

SONG

OH, dark eyes, that but grow the more tender
As you look through the mist of long years! Ah, sad voice that cried: "Angels defend her!"
Then ceased, broken by swift-flowing tears.

How could angels be deaf to such pleading,
Whose echo rings through my heart yet?
While that last prayer to Heaven was speeding,
My heart first forgot to forget.

From what should His angels have kept me?
Love's agonies, doubts, and love's fears,
All love's torrent of grief has o'erswept me,
And no angel takes pity or cheers.

I hear but his voice and its sorrow,
I see but his eyes and their pain,
And yet, if he came on the morrow,
Perchance I should grieve him again.