  Ah! Jenny! though life is not over, Yet the sweetness of living is past; No longer we walk through the clover And watch the white clouds sailing fast; For a darkness has newly arisen To spread and to spoil our fair sky, All our days must be spent in a prison And the black cloud shall never pass by. Ah! Jenny! though bright the scales glitter, In the midst of the coil lurks a fang, The fruit of the almond is bitter Though the blossoms are fair while they hang; The rose has a canker within it, And some day the lark will not sing, The year that flew by as a minute Shall bear heavy on Love’s broken wing. Ah! Jenny! our play-book lies broken Behind us;—before is the page Hermetic;—and so for a token To charm away grief in our age Remember the words of Creation, Our “Let there be Love,” when Love’s fire Through our lips like a sacred libation Drenched our souls with the wine of desire. Ah! Jenny! we journeyed together Life’s road for a year and a day, Bright summer has been all our weather, Fair blossoms have strewn all our way; And shall we now part at the corner Of the cross-roads and meet nevermore, Because the world leers like a scorner And mocks when we pass by its door? Ah! Jenny! the hand that I gave you That night when I promised to keep Your heart—lo! I stretch out to save you And to save my own soul from Hell’s deep; Let the world say its worst;—we shall never Hear its voice or see aught of its gloom, For in Love-land the birds sing forever And the roses are always in bloom. |
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