Page:Pleasant Memories.pdf/305

Here and hereafter.
                            So, the wedding past,
Bright in its hallowed hopes, but not without
Some touch of tender grief; for here, below,
In all her loftiest temples Joy doth set
Lachrymatories, and her banquet-board
Hath aye some subterranean path, that tends
Unto the house of tears.
                                    And then, to break
That heavy pause, which on the heart doth fall,
When what it loves departeth, forth we went,
As I have said before. Well pleased we swept
O'er vale and common, and by that green lane
Where Wandsworth boasts its nested nightingales,
By lordly manor, and o'er lonely heath,
Whose furze and broom make glad the donkey tribe,
Or'neath the enormous chestnuts that o'ersweep
Richmond, the loved of Thames, and by the shades
Of Busby Park, a monarch's late abode,
Until the gates of Hampton Court we passed,
And scanned its purlieus fair. The lime and yew
Spread their inwoven arms, and countless flowers
Within their garden cells of bordering turf
Wrought out a rich mosaic. Here the Maze
With labyrinthine lines the foot allured,
And there the pampered people of the pool
Swam lazily, in gold and silver coats,
To take some dainty morsel from the hand
Of merry childhood. The old Hamburgh vine