Poems (Hinxman)/Stanzas (Never, when once the breeze of love)
For works with similar titles, see Stanzas.
STANZAS.
Never, when once the breeze of love
Hath chosen with its wing to move
The water's unsuspecting breast,—
Never again, by night or day,
In still September or leafy May,
Shall it return to former rest.
Hath chosen with its wing to move
The water's unsuspecting breast,—
Never again, by night or day,
In still September or leafy May,
Shall it return to former rest.
Sometimes, when all the heavens are clear,
A shade shall on its face appear
Fleeting and thin, but still a shade;
And wandering airs shall have strange power
Upon this lake, though not a flower
Be by their gentle visiting swayed.
A shade shall on its face appear
Fleeting and thin, but still a shade;
And wandering airs shall have strange power
Upon this lake, though not a flower
Be by their gentle visiting swayed.
And it shall break into a quiver,
From shore to shore shall curve and shiver,
And to its deepest springs below
Shall send a quick, disturbing sound,
Therein a thousand echoes found
Shall stir, reply, and upwards flow.
From shore to shore shall curve and shiver,
And to its deepest springs below
Shall send a quick, disturbing sound,
Therein a thousand echoes found
Shall stir, reply, and upwards flow.
Or haply this poor lake shall groan
Beneath a tempest of its own,
Writhing, and dark, and full of grief;
While all the waters else that fill
The untouched cisterns of the hill
Glass the blue sky and glossy leaf.
Beneath a tempest of its own,
Writhing, and dark, and full of grief;
While all the waters else that fill
The untouched cisterns of the hill
Glass the blue sky and glossy leaf.