The lines were fill'd with many a tender thing, All the impassion'd heart's fond communing. I TOOK the scroll: I could not brook An eye to gaze on it save mine; I could not bear another's look Should dwell upon one thought of thine. My lamp was burning by my side, I held thy letter to the flame, I mark'd the blaze swift o'er it glide, It did not even spare thy name. Soon the light from the embers past, I felt so sad to see it die, So bright at first, so dark at last, I fear'd it was love's history. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AUGURIES OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE HILL-SIDE TREE by MAXWELL BODENHEIM THE BLACK RIDERS: 38 by STEPHEN CRANE REMEMBERED MUSIC; A FRAGMENT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE GRAPE-VINE SWING by WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS |