At Court

Beholding with a listless eye
A gaily-apparelled train
Of many ladies passing by,
With a delightful pain
My heart was taken unaware.
In very sweet suspense ;
Amid the crowd unfair and fair
A hallowed influence
Stole on me, like some fountain sweet
That mantles in the brine
Of unrefreshing seas to greet
A mariner's lips that pine ;
Stole on me from a girlish face
That passed among the rest ;
Like hers whom I may ne'er embrace,
Hers who hath never blest
These many pallid latter years,
Nor may for evermore
Shine on my soul for all my tears,
As in the days of yore. . . .
Was it ever heard that a hallowed face
Of one whom hearts enwound
Faded slowly, and left no trace
In death's chill mist profound,
Yet later unto living eyes.
That yearned with mute despair.
Dawned faint again with sweet surprise,
And the old loving air?
Because so warm a human love
With tremulous living breath
Had power to charm, and melt and move
Inviolable Death !
Nay, that hath never, never been ;
She may not come again,
My sister, my long-lost Kathleen,
Into our world of pain !
For well I know the girlish face I
Her child, her very own,
Left here, lest we whom she forsook
Might wither all alone !
And so in sooth she blooms anew
To bless our later time,
Beautiful now as when she blew
About my boyish prime.
Fair child ! thou risest from a grave ;
To me thy silken hair
Seems radiant with flowers that wave
Above thy mother there.
Thy face is toward the dawning bright ;
And One will lead thee on.
Tranquil for ever in the light,
Until the day be done !