MadelineFirst published in 1830.1Thou art not steep’d in golden languors,No tranced summer calm is thine,Ever varying Madeline.Thro’[1]light and shadow thou dost range,Sudden glances, sweet and strange,Delicious spites and darling angers,And airy[2]forms of flitting change.2Smiling, frowning, evermore,Thou art perfect in love-lore.Revealings deep and clear are thineOf wealthy smiles: but who may knowWhether smile or frown be fleeter?Whether smile or frown be sweeter,Who may know?Frowns perfect-sweet along the browLight-glooming over eyes divine,Like little clouds sun-fringed, are thine,Ever varying Madeline.Thy smile and frown are not aloofFrom one another,Each to each is dearest brother;Hues of the silken sheeny woofMomently shot into each other.All the mystery is thine;Smiling, frowning, evermore,Thou art perfect in love-lore,Ever varying Madeline.3A subtle, sudden flame,By veering passion fann’d,About thee breaks and dancesWhen I would kiss thy hand,The flush of anger’d shameO’erflows thy calmer glances,And o’er black brows drops downA sudden curved frown:But when I turn away,Thou, willing me to stay,Wooest not, nor vainly wranglest;But, looking fixedly the while,All my bounding heart entanglestIn a golden-netted smile;Then in madness and in bliss,If my lips should dare to kissThy taper fingers amorously,[3]Again thou blushest angerly;And o’er black brows drops downA sudden-curved frown.[1]1830. Through.[2]1830. Aery.[3]1830. Three-times-three; though noted as anerratumfor amorously.
First published in 1830.
1
Thou art not steep’d in golden languors,No tranced summer calm is thine,Ever varying Madeline.Thro’[1]light and shadow thou dost range,Sudden glances, sweet and strange,Delicious spites and darling angers,And airy[2]forms of flitting change.
2
Smiling, frowning, evermore,Thou art perfect in love-lore.Revealings deep and clear are thineOf wealthy smiles: but who may knowWhether smile or frown be fleeter?Whether smile or frown be sweeter,Who may know?Frowns perfect-sweet along the browLight-glooming over eyes divine,Like little clouds sun-fringed, are thine,Ever varying Madeline.Thy smile and frown are not aloofFrom one another,Each to each is dearest brother;Hues of the silken sheeny woofMomently shot into each other.All the mystery is thine;Smiling, frowning, evermore,Thou art perfect in love-lore,Ever varying Madeline.
3
A subtle, sudden flame,By veering passion fann’d,About thee breaks and dancesWhen I would kiss thy hand,The flush of anger’d shameO’erflows thy calmer glances,And o’er black brows drops downA sudden curved frown:But when I turn away,Thou, willing me to stay,Wooest not, nor vainly wranglest;But, looking fixedly the while,All my bounding heart entanglestIn a golden-netted smile;Then in madness and in bliss,If my lips should dare to kissThy taper fingers amorously,[3]Again thou blushest angerly;And o’er black brows drops downA sudden-curved frown.
[1]1830. Through.
[2]1830. Aery.
[3]1830. Three-times-three; though noted as anerratumfor amorously.