Poems (Fields)/Broken Vows
BROKEN VOWS
SUGGESTED BY THE PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG FLORENTINE GIRL
AT VIENNA.
She has learned a sad lesson,—she trusted away A heart that loved wildly, but O, how sincere!She dreamed that such happiness could not decay, But the full-flowing fountain has shrunk to a tear.
She thought that the sun, which at morn shone so bright, Would surely shine on till the starlight appeared;—But sorrow came down on the cold wings of night, And all her youth cherished was trampled and seared;
The being she worshipped, as angels adore,— The bird she had nestled so close to her heart,—That one! O, no other can ever restore The joy of her Eden,—from him she must part!
She must strive to forget him; and never again Send a dove to the world with the hope of return;—She must close every portal, but sighing and pain In a bosom that sorrow can never unlearn!