AN error chanced in the moonlight garden Of a once inviolate love. Shuddering I came on an outworn deceit, And with sorrowing look, yet cruel, Bade I the slender Enchanting maiden Leave me and wander far. Alas! her lofty forehead Was bowed, for she loved me well; Yet did she go in silence Into the dim gray World outside. Sick since then, Wounded and woeful heart! Never shall it be whole. Meseems that, spun of the air, a thread of magic Binds her yet to me, an unrestful bond; It draws, it draws me faint with love toward her. Might it yet be some day that on my threshold I should find her, as erst, in the morning twilight, Her traveler's bundle beside her, And her eye true-heartedly looking up to me, Saying, "See, I've come back, Back once more from the lonely world!" |