Love Unchangeable

Yes, still I love thee! Time, who sets His signet on my brow, And dims my sunken eye, forgets The heart he could not bow, Where love, that cannot perish, grows For one, alas! that little knows How love may sometimes last, Like sunshine wasting in the skies, When clouds are overcast. The dew-drop hanging o’er the rose, Within its robe of light, Can never touch a leaf that blows, Though seeming to the sight; And yet it still will linger there, Like hopeless love without despair,— A snow-drop in the sun: A moment finely exquisite, Alas! but only one. I would not have thy married heart Think momently of me; Nor would I tear the cords apart, That bind me so to thee; No! while my thoughts seem pure and mild, Like dew upon the roses wild, I would not have thee know The stream, that seems to thee so still, Has such a tide below. Enough that in delicious dreams I see thee and forget,— Enough, that when the morning beams I feel my eyelids wet! Yet, could I hope, when Time lets fall The darkness for creation’s pall, To meet thee,—and to love,— I would not shrink from aught below, Nor ask for more above.