Poems (Odom)/Wedded to Another

WEDDED TO ANOTHER.

She is wedded to another now
Who once was pledged to me,
And what I fondly pictured once
I know can never be.
Yet still I love to think upon
The bright and glorious past,
And breathe a sigh, e'er withered hopes
Too purely sweet to last.

They say 'tis madness to recall
The love of early youth—
'T is folly now to kneel before
That broken idol, truth.
Yet still the old, sweet dream of joy
About my memory clings,
And to my heart a trembling wail
Of saddest music brings.

Back through the mist of buried years
Its tones are lingering yet
Recalling to my saddened heart,
The dream I should forget.
Forget! How easily the word
By careless lips is spoken
As though the woven ties of love
Could easily be broken.

'T was fate she told me—not her will—
That severed us for aye;
Her father frowned upon our love;
She dared not disobey.
I know she loved me by her tears,
And by the kiss she gave,
The shadow of our parting hour
Will fall into my grave.

To-day we met—she veiled her eyes
From mine with firmest will;
Ah! did she fear that I might read
In them, she loved me still?
Did some sweet bell from out the past
Send forth its magic chime
That bore within its mellow tone
Thoughts of the olden time?

Did retrospection on her soul
With subtle power steal;
Awaking in her eyes a light
She dares not now reveal?
The present hour belongs to him,
And he may deem it fair;
The past I claim, for well I know,
My image triumphs there.

Though fate has parted us, and now
Her life with his will twine,
Thank God! he may not—cannot know
The love that once was mine.