The wondrous moment of our meeting . . .
I well remember you appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.
In hopeless ennui surrounding
The worldly bustle, to my ear
For long your tender voice kept sounding,
For long in dreams came
features dear.
Time passed. Unruly storms confounded
Old
dreams, and I from year to year
Forgot how tender you had sounded,
Your
heavenly features once so dear.
My backwoods days dragged slow
and quiet-
Dull fence around, dark vault above-
Devoid of God and
uninspired,
Devoid of tears, of fire, of love.
Sleep from my
soul began retreating,
And here you once again appear
Before me like a
vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.
In ecstasy
the heart is beating,
Old joys for it anew revive;
Inspired and
God-filled, it is greeting
The fire, and tears, and love alive.