On Seeing A Picture Of Hermia & Lysander By Julius Simmons.1870. Poem by Barry Van Asten

In these nocturnal woods, my heart finds
The sacred light of a forgiving sun -
Her radiance through the wild boughs, winds
To the dark beauty of unending woman.
But what difference drives her delicate skin
Over life's complexities, to my arms again?

Her name repeats upon the wind
And I hear secrets in the leaves
That whisper on the branches, thinned
By summer's sedate way, that weaves
Collosal dreams from far away,
To echo over streams, and stray

In the dread fields of eternity...
But the heart's unearthly song will come
From its haunted arcadia by the sea,
Pausing in the heather, broken and dumb,
To magnify love's timeless art
Caught in the confines of her heart!