The lake, hid where the thicket reared.
Expressed its grief in a muffled sound,
Where banks entwined it all around;
The suns of other worlds appeared
And strayed across the azure spheres,
Gleaming above like love's bright tears.
Whole worlds of them appeared at length
Upon the skies—love's timeless seat.
Then, changed to fading stars—whose strength
Was spent by love's o'er sweet extent@—
They met, as roaming lovers meet.
The full moon's softly glowing cheeks
So brightly faint, so faintly bright,
Flared to a rosy, blushing light
As when a lover his loved one seeks:
Seeing its image from above,
The moon dies slowly with self-love.
Shadows and lights gleam through a gap,
Cautiously creeping, nigh and nigh,
Embracing self, till by and by
They huddle close in twilight's lap,
And then in one with darkness merge.
With them the trees embrace and surge—
Where dusk and mountain tops entwine,
Sways pine with birch and birch with pine,
The speeding waves new waves submerge
Within the brook—All feel the urge
When love time comes, to seek love's shrine.
Within this rosy evening light,
A maiden rests beneath a tree,
Gazing where the lake and banks match might
And past them, far as the eye can see.
Beneath the hill, the lake shows blue,
14
