IF I might see his face to-day! -- He is so happy now! -- To hear His laugh is like a roundelay -- So ringing-sweet and clear! His step -- I heard it long before He bounded through the open door To tell his marriage. -- Ah! so kind -- So good he is! -- And I -- so blind! But thus he always came to me -- Me, first of all, he used to bring His sorrow to -- his ecstasy -- His hopes and everything; And if I joyed with him or wept, It was not long @3the music@1 slept, -- And if he sung, or if I played -- Or both, -- we were the braver made. I grew to know and understand His every word at every call, -- The gate-latch hinted, and his hand In mine confessed it all: He need not speak one word to me -- He need not sigh -- I need not see, -- But just the one touch of his palm, And I would answer -- song or psalm. He wanted recognition -- name -- He hungered so for higher things, -- The altitudes of power and fame, And all that fortune brings: Till, with his great heart fevered thus, And aching as impetuous, I almost wished sometimes that @3he@1 Were blind and patient made, like me. But he has won! -- I knew he would. -- Once in the mighty Eastern mart, I knew his music only could Be sung in every heart! And when he proudly sent me this From out the great metropolis, I bent above the graven score And, weeping, kissed it o'er and o'er. -- And yet not blither sing the birds Than this glad melody, -- the tune As sweetly wedded with the words As flowers with middle-June; Had he not @3told@1 me, I had known It was composed of love alone -- His love for @3her.@1 -- And she can see His happy face eternally! -- While @3I@1 -- O God, forgive, I pray! -- Forgive me that I did so long To look upon his face to-day! -- I know the wish was wrong. -- Yea, I am thankful that my sight Is shielded safe from such delight: -- I can pray better, with this blur Of blindness -- both for him and her. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ENTHUSIAST by HERMAN MELVILLE THE BATTLE-CRY OF FREEDOM by GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT ADAM'S CURSE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS SONG by MARGARET STEELE ANDERSON PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 30. AL-HADIL by EDWIN ARNOLD TO MISS F. B. ON ASKING FOR MRS. BARBAULD'S LOVE AND TIME by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |