Narcissus

“O beautiful with wealth of wavy hair
     Cheeks red as Love’s, his bow-bent lip, his eyes
     That in blue light flash back my glad surprise;
My soul’s departed Sister, pure as fair,
Or incarnation of my heart’s one prayer;
     Thee holiest, best,—when song-led  day-beams rise,
     Or maiden moonlight-floods the silent skies,
I long to clasp, and gaze on, everywhere!
Divine or human, if human still divine,
     Speak from the crystal silence of thy grot,
With love’s own melody confess thee mine,
     Ere lingering long I am rooted to the spot!”
So bows our human Soul o’er life’s deep river,
And for its own unknown, fair eidolon yearns forever.