But a brow, as those gems of the ocean pale,
Gleam'd from beneath her transparent veil,
Changeful and faint was her fair cheek's hue,
Though clear as a flower which the light looks through;
And the glance of her dark, resplendent eye,
For the aspect of Woman at times too high,
Lay floating in mists, which the troubled stream
Of the soul sent up o'er its fervid beam.
She look'd on the vine at her father's door,
Like one that is leaving his native shore;
She hung o'er the myrtle once call'd her own,
As it greenly waved by the threshold-stone;
She turn'd—and her mother's gaze brought back
Each hue of her childhood's faded track!
—Oh! hush the song, and let her tears
Flow to the dream of her early years!
Holy and pure are the drops that fall
When the young Bride goes from her father's hall;
She goes unto love yet untried and new,
She parts from love, which hath still been true!
Mute be the lyre and the choral strain,
Till her heart's deep well-spring is clear again!
She wept on her mother's faithful breast,
Like a babe that sobs itself to rest;
She wept—yet laid her hand the while,
In his that waited her dawning smile,
Her soul's affianced, nor cherish'd less,
For the gush of Nature's tenderness!
—She lifted her graceful head at last—
The choking swell of her heart was past,
And her lovely thoughts from their cells found way
In the sudden flow of a plaintive lay.*[1]
The Bride's Farewell.
Why do I weep?—to leave the vine,
Whose clusters o'er me bend?
The myrtle—yet, oh! call it mine!—
The flowers I loved to tend?
—A thousand thoughts of all things dear,
Like shadows o'er me sweep,
I leave my sunny childhood here,
—Oh! therefore let me weep!
I leave thee, sister!—we have play'd
Through many a joyous hour,
Where the silvery green of the olive shade
Hung dim o'er fount and bower!
Yes! thou and I, by stream, by shore,
In song, in prayer, in sleep,
Have been as we may be no more—
—Kind sister! let me weep!
- ↑ * A Greek bride, before she quits her father's house, "fait de tendres adieux à son père, a sa mère, à ses proches, à ses amies, à tout son voisinage, et aux lieux où se sont passés les jours de son enfance.——En certains endroits, la douleur de la fiancée s'exprime par une formule d'usage."
Fauriel, Chants Populaires de la Grèce Moderne.
