To Constantia: Stanzas 1 and 2
As restored by Mr. C.D. Locock.
Cease, cease--for such wild lessons madmen learn
Thus to be lost, and thus to sink and die
Perchance were death indeed!--Constantia turn
In thy dark eyes a power like light doth lie
Even though the sounds its voice that were
Between lips are laid to sleep:
Within thy breath, and on thy hair
Like odour, it is yet
And from thy touch like fire doth leap--
Even while I write, my burning cheeks are wet--
Alas, that the torn heart can bleed but not forget.
breathless awe like the swift change
Of dreams unseen but felt in youthful slumbers
Wild sweet yet incommunicably strange
Thou breathest now in fast ascending numbers...