Song Of Elga Poem by Maria Gowen Brooks

DAY, in melting purple dying,
Blossoms, all around me sighing,
Fragrance, from the lilies straying,
Zephyr, with my ringlets playing,
Ye but waken my distress:
I am sick of loneliness.

Thou to whom I love to hearken,
Come, ere night around me darken;
Though thy softness but deceive me,
Say thou'rt true, and I'll believe thee;
Veil, if ill, thy soul's intent,
Let me think it innocent.

Save thy toiling, spare thy treasure;
All I ask is friendship's pleasure;
Let the shining ore lie darkling,
Bring no gem in lustre sparkling;
Gifts and gold are nought to me;
I would only look on thee!

Tell to thee the high-wrought feeling,
Ecstasy but in revealing;
Paint to thee the deep sensation,
Rapture in participation,
Yet but torture, if comprest
In a lone unfriended breast.

Absent still? Ah! come and bless me!
Let these eyes again caress thee;
Once, in caution, I could fly thee;
Now, I nothing could deny thee;
In a look if death there be,
Come and I will gaze on thee!

xxx

The Guardian Angel
'CALL me no longer Hariph: I but took,
For love of that young pair, this mortal guise;
And often have I stood, beside Heaven's book,
And given in record there, their deeds and sighs.

'From infancy I've watch'd them, —far apart, —
Oppress'd by men and fiends; yet, form'd to dwell
Soul blent with soul, and beating heart 'gainst heart;
'T is done. — Behold the angel Raphael.

'That blest commission, friend of men, I bear,
To comfort those who undeservedly mourn;
And every good resolve, kind tear, heart-prayer,
'T is mine to show before the Eternal's throne.

'And oft I haste, and when the good and true
Are headlong urged to deep pollution, save;
Just as my wings receive some drops of dew,
Which else must join Asphaltites' black wave.'

He said; all o'er to radiant beauty warming,
While they, in doubt of what they look'd upon,
Beheld a form —dissolving — dazzling — charming —
But, ere their lips found utterance, it was gone.