| Gem of the crimson-colour’d Even, |
| Companion of retiring day, |
| Why at the closing gates of heaven, |
Beloved Star, dost thou delay?
|
| So fair thy pensile beauty burns |
| When soft the tear of twilight flows; |
| So due thy plighted love returns |
To chambers brighter than the rose;
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| To Peace, to Pleasure, and to Love |
| So kind a star thou seem’st to be, |
| Sure some enamour’d orb above |
Descends and burns to meet with thee!
|
| Thine is the breathing, blushing hour |
| When all unheavenly passions fly, |
| Chased by the soul-subduing power |
Of Love’s delicious witchery.
|
| O! sacred to the fall of day |
| Queen of propitious stars, appear, |
| And early rise, and long delay. |
When Caroline herself is here!
|
| Shine on her chosen green resort |
| Whose trees the sunward summit crown, |
| And wanton flowers, that well may court |
An angel’s feet to tread them down:—
|
| Shine on her sweetly scented road |
| Thou star of evening’s purple dome, |
| That lead’st the nightingale abroad, |
And guid’st the pilgrim to his home.
|
| Shine where my charmer’s sweeter breath |
| Embalms the soft exhaling dew, |
| Where dying winds a sigh bequeath |
To kiss the cheek of rosy hue:—
|
| Where, winnow’d by the gentle air, |
| Her silken tresses darkly flow |
| And fall upon her brow so fair, |
Like shadows on the mountain snow.
|
| Thus, ever thus, at day’s decline |
| In converse sweet to wander far— |
| O bring with thee my Caroline, |
And thou shalt be my Ruling Star!
|
| Thomas Campbell |
Classic Poems |
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[ Hohenlinden ] [ Freedom and Love ] [ Battle of the Baltic ] [ Lord Ullin's Daughter ] [ Ye Mariners of England ] [ To the Evening Star ] [ The River of Life ] |
