Cecilia's Dream

I dreamed that in a garden I reposed,
Beside a fount fed by a mountain stream
Precipitous; where the waves' murmuring flow
And music of sweet birds my heart entranced
'Twixt joy and grief. Then to the air, methought,
And to the woods, I uttered my complaint;
Reproached my cold heart with its long disdain,
And called on Heaven to sway my lover's heart
To reconcilement, and to soothe mine own
To kindness,— when amid the laurel bowers,—
O, blissful chance!—sudden my love appeared
And fell before my feet." Forgive," he cried,
"The transport of mine anger, in the hour
Thou bad'st me wait upon the midnight air;
And, for the future, cheerfully I'll brave
The scorching sunbeams or the evening dews,
Or linger the lone night beneath these walls;—
Thy day be mine, or clouded or serene.
Ah ! then, relent, and let my heart have rest!"
At these sweet words, how shall I tell my joy?
I called him to my side. He rose, approached,
And trembling seized the hand I proffered him,
A pledge of reconciled love; and, ah!
So fervent kissed it, that my very heart
Leaped in my bosom; then full many a sigh
He breathed, with sweet regards and fond caress.