The dark before the day,
The dawning silver-gray,
Is sweet with treasured fragrance overrun;
So went my girlhood hours,
And, folded like the flowers,
The heart of life was waiting for its sun.
In the pale east I saw
The gleaming stars withdraw,
The fairy lights of childhood, one by one;
O gladder light of youth,
And sweeter tale of truth!
What star did ever whisper of the sun?
Before the morning spring,
The birds awake and sing;
What is it?--but they twitter mystery--
And all my thoughts, like birds,
Sing music without words,
And flutter, flutter, and I wonder why!
All in the dawning still
The woods begin to thrill
Through silent aisles the eager whispers run;
O peace my foolish heart?
What makes thee throb and start?--
He's coming, coming--lo, it is the sun!
O, while the skies were gray,
Where hast thou been, my Day?
And where was I in dreams apart from thee?
What land hath let thee go
To smile upon me so?
What hand hath led thee all the way to me?
No longer stay the streams,
Hushed in the moonlight gleams,
Now all the darkling oracles are dumb;
No more inquire and wait,
At threshold of thy fate;
Enter a queen, O heart! the king is come!
