Themes and Variations/To Laura

TO LAURA.

If you could sit beside me
In your gown of old brocade
(Dim primroses mixed with silver),
And your ruffles stiff and staid.

While the rainy cloud draws downward,
And the shadows fill the room;
And the fire, our boon companion,
Laughs and dances in the glaom.

While the roof-tree creaks and quivers
With the wild autumnal gale,
And the staggering forest echoes
To the breakers’ distant wail.

Then it sinks; and low, and lower,
Steals a tender music in
(As it seems a phantom master
Playing on the violin).

In the pause we hear the fretting
Of the fallen lattice-vine,
And the poplar speaks in whispers
To the shuddering pine.

Then again the forest thunders!
And the seaward voices swell,
And the storm flings wide the portal
For some guest invisible.

When the silver lamp is lighted,
And your mother’s picture there,
Looks and listens to our voices
With her fond protecting air.

Thus if we could sit together—
Ah, that dream may never be!
Come, wild equinoctial tempest,
I will wander forth with thee!