Poems (Hornblower)/Lines (I saw the waters, as bright they lay)
For works with similar titles, see Lines.
LINES.
I saw the waters, as bright they layIn the lovely calm of a summer day,The fair blue sky shone clear above,All nature breathed of peace and love;And near me there were radiant eyes,As calm and clear as those summer skies.
And gladly I gazed on the flowing tide,For those I loved were at my side;The sun in glory and splendour shone,And proudly the vessel glided on;And softly the distant landscape played,In its varying hues of light and shade.
And my heart was glad—short time passed by,And again did the white-winged vessel flyOn the evening gale—and I was there,But alas! the scene was no longer fair;The eyes and the smile I loved were gone,And I sat and gazed on the waves alone.
Brief time had fled—yet the shade had pastO'er my heart and life since I stood there last;Some best beloved had fled away,To a calmer shore and a brighter day;And all life seemed, to my tear-dimmed eye,As brief as the waves that glided by.
The evening shades fell chill and cold,But my heart was filled with the dreams of old:The gentle sound of the waters' moan,To my memory recalled a lovelier tone,For the setting sun, which o'er me fell,Shone again the eyes I had loved so well.
All fled—all fled—yet I shed no tear,I stood in faith and in calmness there;O'er my troubled spirit the shadows rose,But one gaze above brought my heart repose:My lost and my loved were there, and I,I breathed to the evening gale one sigh!