[From the same]
A memory filled my heart last night
With all its youthful glow;
Under the ashes, out of my sight,
I buried it long ago;
I buried it deep, I bade it rest,
And whispered a long "good-by;"
But lo! it has risen--too sweet, too blest
Too cherished a thing to die.
In the dim, dim past, where the shadows fall,
I left it, but, crowned with light,
A spirit of joy in the banquet-hall,
It haunted my soul last night.
One earnest, tender, passionate glance--
I cherished it--that was all,
As we drifted on through the mazy dance
To a musical rise and fall.
It rose with a weird and witching swell,
'Mid the twinkling of merry feet,
And clasped me close in a wild, strange spell
Of memories bitter-sweet;
Bitter--because they left a sting
And vanished: a lifelong pain;
Sweet--because nothing can ever bring
Such joy to my heart again.
To me it was nothing, only a waltz;
To the other it meant no wrong;
Men may be cruel--who are not false--
And women remember too long.