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From “The Angel in the House”
I GREW assured, before I asked, | |
| That she ’d be mine without reserve, | |
| And in her unclaimed graces basked | |
| At leisure, till the time should serve,— | |
| With just enough of dread to thrill | 5 |
| The hope, and make it trebly dear: | |
| Thus loath to speak the word, to kill | |
| Either the hope or happy fear. | |
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| Till once, through lanes returning late, | |
| Her laughing sisters lagged behind; | 10 |
| And ere we reached her father’s gate, | |
| We paused with one presentient mind; | |
| And, in the dim and perfumed mist | |
| Their coming stayed, who, blithe and free, | |
| And very women, loved to assist | 15 |
| A lover’s opportunity. | |
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| Twice rose, twice died, my trembling word; | |
| To faint and frail cathedral chimes | |
| Spake time in music, and we heard | |
| The chafers rustling in the limes. | 20 |
| Her dress, that touched me where I stood; | |
| The warmth of her confided arm; | |
| Her bosom’s gentle neighborhood; | |
| Her pleasure in her power to charm; | |
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| Her look, her love, her form, her touch! | 25 |
| The least seemed most by blissful turn,— | |
| Blissful but that it pleased too much, | |
| And taught the wayward soul to yearn. | |
| It was as if a harp with wires | |
| Was traversed by the breath I drew; | 30 |
| And O, sweet meeting of desires! | |
| She, answering, owned that she loved too. | |
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