(1827.)
O stay, Madonna! stay;
'Tis not the dawn of day That marks the skies with yonder opal streak:
The stars in silence shine;
Then press thy lips to mine, And rest upon my neck thy fervid cheek.
O sleep, Madonna! sleep;
Leave me to watch and weep O'er the sad memory of departed joys, O'er hope's extinguished beam, O'er fancy's vanished dream;O'er all that nature gives and man destroys.
O wake, Madonna! wake;
Even now the purple lake Is dappled o'er with amber flakes of light;A glow is on the hill;
And every trickling rill In golden threads leaps down from yonder height.
O fly, Madonna! fly, Lest day and envy spy What only love and night may safely know:
Fly, and tread softly, dear!
Lest those who hate us hear The sounds of thy light footsteps as they go....
