Lurline
(Inscribed to Madame Lucy Escott.)
As you glided and glided before us that time,A mystical, magical maiden,We fancied we looked on a face from the climeWhere the poets have builded their Aidenn!And oh, the sweet shadows! And oh, the warm gleamsWhich lay on the land of our beautiful dreams,While we walked by the margins of musical streamsAnd heard your wild warbling around us!
We forgot what we were when we stood with the treesNear the banks of those silvery waters;As ever in fragments they came on the breeze,The songs of old Rhine and his daughters!And then you would pass with those radiant eyesWhich flashed like a light in the tropical skies—And ah! the bright thoughts that would sparkle and riseWhile we heard your wild warbling around us.
Will you ever fly back to this city of oursWith your harp and your voice and your beauty?God knows we rejoice when we meet with such flowersOn the hard road of Life and of Duty!Oh! come as you did, with that face and that tone,For we wistfully look to the hours which have flown,And long for a glimpse of the gladness that shoneWhen we heard your wild warbling around us.