Poems (Hooper)/Touch Not

by Lucy Hamilton Hooper

TOUCH NOT.

Wo still ein Herz von Liebe glüht.

Where glows a heart with silent love
 Lay not thy reckless hand thereon;
Extinguish not the heavenly spark;
 Indeed, indeed, 'twere not well done!

If e'er a spot all unprofaned
 Is found upon this world of ours,
It is a youthful human heart
 When first it yields to pure Love's pow'rs.

Oh, grant thou still the dream that comes
 'Mid rosy blossoms of the May!
Thou know'st not what a paradise
 Doth with that vision pass away.

There broke full many a valiant heart
 When love was reft away by fate,
And many, suff'ring, wander forth,
 Filled with all bitterness and hate.

And many bleeding, wounded sore,
 Shriek loud for hopes forever fled,
And mid the world's dust fling them down,
 For godlike Love to them was dead.

And weep, complain, e'en as thou wilt,
 Not all thy penitence and pain
Can cause a faded rose to bloom,
 Or bid a dead heart live again.
Geibel.