Eugene, Teresa

Teresa. The fever’s hue hath left thy cheek, beloved!Thine eyes, that make the dayspring in my heart,Are clear and still once more! Wilt thou look forth?Now, while the sunset with low streaming light--The light thou lovest--hath made the elm-wood stemsAll burning bronze, the river molten gold!Wilt thou be raised upon thy couch, to meetThe rich air fill’d with wandering scents and sounds?Or shall I lay thy dear, dear head once moreOn this true bosom, lulling thee to restWith our own evening hymn?

Eugene. Not now, dear love!My soul is wakeful--lingering to look forth,Not on the sun, but thee! Doth the light sleepOn the stream tenderly? and are the stemsOf our own elm-trees, by its alchemy,So richly changed? and is the sweetbrier-scentFloating around? But I have said farewell,Farewell to earth, Teresa!--not to thee;Nor yet to our deep love--nor yet awhileUnto the spirit of mine art, which flowsBack on my soul in mastery. One last work!And I will shrine my wealth of glowing thoughts,Clinging affections, and undying hopes,All, all in that memorial!

Teresa. Oh, what dreamIs this, mine own Eugene? Waste thou not thusThy scarce-returning strength; keep thy rich thoughtsFor happier days--they will not melt awayLike passing music from the lute. Dear friend!Dearest of friends! thou canst win back at willThe glorious visions.

Eugene. Yes! the unseen landOf glorious visions hath sent forth a voiceTo call me hence. Oh, be thou not deceived!Bind to thy heart no earthly hope, Teresa!I must, must leave thee! Yet be strong, my love!As thou hast still been gentle.

Teresa. O Eugene!What will this dim world be to me, Eugene!When wanting thy bright soul, the life of all--My only sunshine? How can I bear on?How can we part?--we that have loved so well,With clasping spirits link’d so long by grief,By tears, by prayer?

Eugene. E’en therefore we can part,With an immortal trust, that such high loveIs not of things to perish.Let me leaveOne record still of its ethereal flameBrightening through death’s cold shadow. Once again,Stand with thy meek hands folded on thy breast,And eyes half veil’d, in thine own soul absorb’d,As in thy watchings ere I sink to sleep;And I will give the bending, flower-like graceOf that soft form, and the still sweetness thronedOn that pale brow, and in that quivering smileOf voiceless love, a life that shall outlastTheir delicate earthly being. There! thy headBow’d down with beauty, and with tenderness,And lowly thought--even thus--my own Teresa!Oh! the quick-glancing radiance and bright bloom,That once around thee hung, have melted nowInto more solemn light--but holier far,And dearer, and yet lovelier in mine eyes,Than all that summer-flush! For by my couch,In patient and serene devotedness,Thou hast made those rich hues and sunny smilesThine offering unto me. Oh! I may giveThose pensive lips, that clear Madonna brow,And the sweet earnestness of that dark eye,Unto the canvass; I may catch the flowOf all those drooping locks, and glorify,With a soft halo, what is imaged thus--But how much rests unbreathed, my faithful one!What thou hast been to me! This bitter world!This cold, unanswering world, that hath no voiceTo greet the gentle spirit, that drives backAll birds of Eden, which would sojourn hereA little while--how have I turn’d awayFrom its keen, soulless air, and in thy heartFound ever the sweet fountain of responseTo quench my thirst for home!The dear work growsBeneath my hand,--the last!

Teresa, (falling on his neck in tears.)Eugene! Eugene!Break not my heart with thine excess of love!--Oh! must I lose thee--thou that hast been stillThe tenderest--best!

Eugene. Weep, weep not thus, beloved!Let my true heart o’er thine retain its powerOf soothing to the last! Mine own Teresa!Take strength from strong affection! Let our souls,Ere this brief parting, mingle in one strainOf deep, full thanksgiving, for God’s rich boon--Our perfect love! Oh, blessed have we beenIn that high gift! thousands o’er earth may pass,With hearts unfreshen’d by the heavenly dew,Which hath kept ours from withering. Kneel, true wife!And lay thy hands in mine.

Oh, thus receiveThy children’s thanks, Creator! for the loveWhich thou hast granted, through all earthly woes,To spread heaven’s peace around them--which hath boundTheir spirits to each other and to thee,With links whereon unkindness ne’er hath breathed,Nor wandering thought. We thank thee, gracious God!For all its treasured memories, tender cares,Fond words, bright, bright sustaining looks, unchangedThrough tears and joy! O Father! most of all,We thank, we bless thee, for the priceless trust,Through thy redeeming Son vouchsafed to thoseThat love in thee, of union, in thy sightAnd in thy heavens, immortal! Hear our prayer!Take home our fond affections, purifiedTo spirit-radiance from all earthly stain;Exalted, solemnised, made fit to dwell,Father! where all things that are lovely meet,And all things that are pure--for evermoreWith thee and thine!