We meet not as then we parted,
We feel more than all may see;
My bosom is heavy-hearted,
And thine full of doubt for me; –
A moment has bound the free.
The moment has gone forever,
Like lightning, it flashed and died,
Like a snowflake upon a river,
A sunbeam upon a tide,
Which the dark shadows hide.
That moment from time was singled
As the price of life of pain;
In the cup of its joy mingled
Delusion too sweet though vain,
Too sweet to be mine again.
Sweet lips could my soul not have hidden
That its life was consumed by you,
Ye would not have forbidden
The death which a heart so true
Sought in your burning dew. –
That, methinks, were too little cost
For a moment so found, so lost!
-anon
