LOVES MESSAGE

By Sir Tollemache Sinclair.

Thee alone I adore in creation, Without thee my lyre had been hushed Thy charms first evolved love's ovation. Like the rock struck by Moses which gushed.

All notes from my harp e'er emerging Are echoed by dear chords from thee, Thou'rt my sun whence all rays though diverging Have their source like the leaves from the tree.

Sunbeams on the top of a mountain

Less burning ai'e than in the dale,

From the height whence it's fallen my love's fountain

With rainbows of hope spans the vale.

The wire swift as thought is oft sending

Each hope and fond wish of our souls

And we feel through its beats our heart's rending

Whilst parted as far as the Poles.

All Nature and Art I'd fain plunder

Thy rich and rare chaplet to be

Were the world all mine own for a wonder,

All its treasures I'd rifle for thee !

Should the notes from my lute reach thee never My constancy might gain me grace E'en drops which on rocks fall for ever - •

Leave at length an indelible trace.

Not mine is the nightingale's love song

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Nor that of the linnet or lark

But e"en the poor sparrow's or dove's song

Thrills its mate which in rapture will hark.

Not for others my harp's strings I'm striking To thee each warm wish is addressed I'd brave for thee this world's disliking, By thy smile alone I can be blest.

Though my name seems but written in water Be thine graved in marble or brass, Should those drops be thy tears Eve's dear daughter All records these tears would surpass.

The bee stores in summer rich honey Which keeps it through winter's deep gloom And so thine endearments so sunny Feed my heart and cause feeling to bloom.

The heart its own bitterness knoweth The thorns I've sown have me much torn Vet I'll hope that the seeds which love soweth May yield flowers which in joy may be born.

I snatched up a shell on the sea shore And heard its low murmurs so wild Give back ocean's roar on a lee shore But toned to delight e'en a child.

And thus every object which meets me Whispers gently and ever of thee The charm with which thy beauty greets me Spite of distance and absence I see.

As I sing thee with passion so eager A mocking bird echoes my strain, rU fancy it's thee, solace meagre, How hopeless my love ah ! how vain.

The Maori his boomerang far lances Which harmless comes back to his feet Thus the shafts from my heart my eyes glances Return: no response does them greet.

My mind with the world's not in concord Have I fall'n from a far and strange star ? Alas ! I too oft strike a wrong chord 'Tween us love there's ever a bar.

To feign love was always the fashion

Each throb of thy pulse my heart marks

Wert thou cold as a stone to my passion

E'en from flints love's bright steel can draw sparks.

Kaleidoscopes show us fresh beauties As we turn them around and around But thy charms all in vain to compute 'tis New phases my senses astound.

Hast thou felt after absence on meeting, A tremor come o'er thee like death A thrill full of joy at our greeting A faintness, a gasping for breath.

The arms fixed their posture ne'er alters, The tongue tied no language can find, The voice tries to utter but falters.

With tears eyes suffused become blind.

Hair straightened than bristle seems harder The flesh creeps as if by frost chilled If thou know'st not these signs of love's ardour Mere «liking», not love, hath thee filled.

Joy causes a fear yet a thrilling Our bliss seems too heavenly to last E'en pain's a relief and eyes filling Which show that love's dream is not past.

Ah ! recall, linger o'er those enjoyments Like visits of angels so rare Can heaven's joys surpass those employments I ask not for more, I'll not dare.

If fate did but kindly allow us To choose when we'd yield our last sigh I'd wish when true joy did endow us When half-dead with emotion to die.

The sun beaming brightly upon me The warm tints of autumn around Thy tears on my face, thy touch on me Surely death's sling would not then be found.

Past, past, dear to mem'ry, those glad hours When love's voice of welcome I heard, When tears fell not, then were no sad hours, Ah ! those dear hours flew swift like a bird.

When thou'rt sad I'd fain then be nigh thee, Thou'rt dear both in sorrow and joy, One tear dropped in sympathy by thee Griefs pangs would suflice to destroy.

My bow I now draw at adventure A shaft shot at random may hit Perchance one brief line "scaping censure May sparks of love's dear light emit.

An echo I've found where I hasten And call out « I love thee, my dear ». It replies just when grief does me chasten « I love thee, my dear • soft and clear.

The swallow in spring always revels Its gay sky is ever most bright ' No grief his joy like ours e'er levels,

No winter destroys his delight.

Cannot I for once be like that swallow And in fancy renew my life's spring Sad cares like a shadow me follow Wintry griefs my sad heart ever wring.

When the Cuckoo is plaintively singing, The year seems to take a new start My step with new vigour seems springing. Again my way's clear on love's chart.

At night oft my bark on the ocean

Leaves a track phosphorescent like sparks,

And I dream 'tis a fanciful notion

'Tis the light from thine eyes which love marks

LARMES ET SOCaiRRS 43'

Anon when I roam in the valley

And the darkness is closing around,

The sun's rays still form a bright alley

On the mountain tops which now me bound.

Thus when aimlessly wandering so madly And life's shadows are deepening in gloom I gaze where serenely, but sadly, A beam o'er thy head seems to loom.

Of thy bright light the shadow I'd fain be. To thy voice I'd reply as of yore ; To thy heart pressed shall I e'er again be, On thine image how oft do I pore.

Australia's in day when here's night-fall Summer's there when snows on us beat, Without thee my heart sees no light fall Like the swallow I'd fain winter cheat.

I love best the autumn tints sober, The green of the spring does me tire.

Wert thou mine, dear, in life's rich October, More bright and more warm were love's fire.

When a ship is on fire e'er we leave her With water the flames we subdue, And when my heart burns with love's fever Thy tears, love, my heart will renew.

The sun dial never can tell us

The hour, save when the bright sunbeams shine

So but of those moments I'm jealous,

When thy sparkling eyes say thou'rt mine.

A ferry I crossed o'er a river, Thy soul went, I could not see thee When o'er, of two fees I was giver, For thy soul unseen crossed it with me.

When Mont Blanc I was ascending,

I wished that I could there find thee,

I reached peaks that seemed the sky rending,

Nearer heaven love seems nearer to thee.

Some heart perchance thrilled with emotion Towards ours though to us quite unknown, Then we could have quaffed love's dear potion : 'Tis too late, and now we're alone.

Of my mission in Hfe thou'rt the polestar. With hope like a rainbow I'm buoyed, Each morn thou'rt ray sun and my soul's star I'm each eve as by sunset o'erjoyed.

The bark by storms ceaselessly driven At last to the shore madly flies, And so he whose heart is sore riven Thinks death his sole refuge and dies

4^i8 LARMES ET SOURIRES