SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY

If Isabel's quick eye had not been wed

To every symbol on his forehead high;
She saw it waxing very pale and dead,

And straight all flushed; so, lisped tenderly,
vLorenzo!'—here she ceased her timid quest, 55

But in her tone and look he read the rest.

VIII

*O Isabella! I can half perceive
That I may speak my grief into thine ear;

If thou didst ever anything believe,
Believe how I love thee, believe how near 60

My soul is to its doom : I would not grieve
Thy hand by unwelcome pressing, would not fear

Thine eyes by gazing; but I cannot live

Another night, and not my passion shrive.

IX

4Love! thou art leading me from wintry cold, 65

Lady! thou Leadest me to summer clime,
And I must taste the blossoms that unfold

In its ripe warmth this gracious morning time.*
So said, his erewhile timid lips grew bold,

And poesied with hers in dewy rhyme: 70

Great bliss was with them, and great happiness
Grew, like a lusty flower in June's caress.

Parting they seemed to tread upon the air,
Twin roses by the zeghyr blown apart
Only to meet again more close, and share 75
The inward fragrance of each other's heart.
She, to her chamber gone, a ditty fair
133