And if in one of those two hearts
Untimely fades love’s blossom,
Also a golden star falls prone
From heaven’s eternal bosom.
XXI.
That birdie that sings in the tree
As himself were the song that he singeth,—
Hearts wonder not that he so sings
Where love’s divine harmony springeth.
Oh! that bird he so sings from the heart
To the heart of the hearer believe it,
He might force e’en a mortal to weep
With a heart that’s attuned to receive it.
And methinks that his plaintive refrain
To my own songs is closely related,
For this the light foam of my lyre
Is only a dirge iterated.
XXII.
What silence reigns around as when
A dream o’er weary eyes descends,
As when the bird in downy nest
Her callow offspring tends.
So gently might her pinions fold
Above the star bespangled skies,
And haply many a heart shall gain
What carking day denies.
I
