| THY hue, dear pledge, is pure and bright | |
| As in that well-remember'd night | |
| When first thy mystic braid was wove, | |
| And first my Agnes whisper'd love. | |
| |
| Since then how often hast thou prest | 5 |
| The torrid zone of this wild breast, | |
| Whose wrath and hate have sworn to dwell | |
| With the first sin that peopled hell; | |
| A breast whose blood's a troubled ocean, | |
| Each throb the earthquake's wild commotion! | 10 |
| Oh if such clime thou canst endure | |
| Yet keep thy hue unstain'd and pure, | |
| What conquest o'er each erring thought | |
| Of that fierce realm had Agnes wrought! | |
| I had not wander'd far and wide | 15 |
| With such an angel for my guide; | |
| Nor heaven nor earth could then reprove me | |
| If she had lived, and lived to love me. | |
| |
| Not then this world's wild joys had been | |
| To me one savage hunting scene, | 20 |
| My sole delight the headlong race | |
| And frantic hurry of the chase; | |
| To start, pursue, and bring to bay, | |
| Rush in, drag down, and rend my prey, | |
| Then—from the carcass turn away! | 25 |
| Mine ireful mood had sweetness tamed, | |
| And soothed each wound which pride inflamed:— | |
| Yes, God and man might now approve me | |
| If thou hadst lived, and lived to love me! | |
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