If it so befalls that the midnight hovers
In mist no moonlight breaks,
The leagues of the years my spirit covers,
And my self myself forsakes.
And I live in a land of stars and flowers,
White cliffs by a silver sea;
And the pearly points of her opal towers
From the mountains beckon me.
And I think that I know that I hear her calling
From a casement bathed with light--
Thro' music of waters in waters falling
'Mid palms from a mountain height.
And I feel that I think my love's awaited
By the romance of her charms;
That her feet are early and mine belated
In a world that chains my arms.
But I break my chains and the rest is easy--
In the shadow of the rose,
Snow-white, that blooms in her garden breezy,
We meet and no one knows.
We dream sweet dreams and kiss sweet kisses;
The world--it may live or die!
The world that forgets; that never misses
The life that has long gone by.
We speak old vows that have long been spoken,
And weep a long-gone woe,--
For you must know our hearts were broken
Hundreds of years ago.