She was a breath of forest-wild perfume
So sweet, one could but stand and drink it in,
Until the soul should burst; a dream so thin
And airy fine, it seemed a spirit's bloom,
And left a haunting fragrance in the room
When it had vanished. Garb'd in snowy lynn
So rare one knew not where it did begin--
A scented sunbeam in a human gloom.
And thou hast called her woman, woman only,
When thou hadst music yearning at thy tongue
To call her Heaven. Aching fancy lonely
Still breathes that fragrance in a song unsung,
Or wandering, lost deep in a golden dream,
Hears sweet white Lurley from a vanished stream.