Poems (Allen)/Werter to Charlotte

by Elizabeth Chase Allen

WERTER TO CHARLOTTE.

OME closer, dear persuasive eyes,
 Lift me above this dark despair;
To you my soul forever cries,
 Ye are so tender and so fair.
O loving eyes, compelling eyes,
Help me to conquer and arise!

The sunset darkens from the skies,
 The shades come creeping on and on
I know the stars will soon arise,
 And ere they burn, you will be gone.
O, strange and steady planet-eyes,
Between our souls the midnight lies!

Who could foretell so great a change?
 The careless touch of finger-tips,
Then sweet and strange, O sweet and strange,
 Wild hurrying hearts and hovering lips.
O marvellous eyes, resistless eyes,
With you my soul's salvation lies!

O, who shall bid this sorrow cease,
 And gather up Life's wasted wine?
Not even Death can give me peace,—
 He cannot part your soul and mine.
O haunting eyes, immortal eyes,
Love's bitter anguish never dies!