At the Opera

The curtain rose, the play began,     The limelight on the gay garbs shone;     Yet carelessly I gazed upon     The painted players, maid and man,     As one with idle eyes who sees     The marble figures on a frieze.     Long lark-notes clear the first act close,     So the soprano: then a hush,     The tenor, tender as a thrush;     Then loud and high the chorus rose,     Till, with a sudden rush and strong,     It ended in a storm of song.     The curtain fell, the music died,     The lights grew bright, revealing there     The flash of jewelled fingers fair,     And wreaths of pearls on brows of pride;     Then, with a quick-flushed cheek, I turned,     And into mine her dark eyes burned.     Such eyes but once a man may see,     And, seeing once, his fancy dies     To thought of any other eyes:     So shadow-soft, they seemed to be     Twin haunted lakes, lit by the gleams     Of a mysterious moon of dreams.     Silk lashes veiled their liquid light     With such a shade as tall reeds fling     From the lake-marge at sunsetting:     Their darkness might have hid the night,     Yet whoso saw their glance would say     Night dreamt therein, and saw the day.     Long looked I at them, wondering     What tender memories were hid     Beneath each blue-veined lily-lid;     What hopes of joys the years would bring;     What griefs? In vain: I might not guess     The secret of their silentness.     What of her face? Her face, meseems,     Was such as painters see who muse     By moonlight in dim avenues,     Yet cannot paint; or as in dreams,     Young poets see, but, when they try     To limn in verse are dumb, so I.     Yet well I know that I have seen     That sweet face in the long ago     In a rose-bower, well I know,     Laughing the singing leaves between,     In that strange land of rose and rhyme,     The land of Once upon a Time.     O unknown sweet, so sweetly known,     I know not what your name may be,     Madonna is your name for me,     Nor where your lines in life are thrown;     But soul sees soul, what is the rest?     A passing phantom at the best.     Did your young bosom never glow     To love? or burns your heart beneath     As burns the rosebud in its sheath?     I neither know nor wish to know:     I smell the rose upon the tree;     Who will may pluck and wear, for me,     May wear the rose, and watch it die,     And, leaf by red leaf, fade and fall,     Till there be nothing left at all     Of its sweet loveliness; but I     Love it so well, I leave it free,     The scent alone I take with me!     As one who visits sacred spots     Brings tokens back, so I from you     A glance, a smile, a rapture new!     And these are my forget-me-nots!     I take from you but only these,     Give all the rest to whom you please.     Sweet eyes, your glance a light shall cast     On me, when dreaded ghosts arise     Of dead regrets with shrouded eyes,     And phantoms of the perished past,     Old thoughts, old hopes, and old desire     Gather around my lonely fire!     Farewell! In rhyme, I kiss your hand,     Kiss not unsweet, although unheard!     This is our secret, say no word,     That I have been in Fairyland,     And seen for one brief moments space     The Queen Titania face to face.