Fiametta: A Sequence

I.

BEHIND the Rector's lily-bed
  I saw an Angel pass,
A halo shone behind her head
  Behind the Rector's lily-bed,
It was the sun blushed fiery red.
  So very fair she was !
Behind the Rector's lily-bed
  I saw an Angel pass.


II.

Fiametta is her name
  And she's the Rector's cousin,
But she shall be my flame !
  (Fiametta is her name).
The Rector's old and lame,
  Has daughters by the dozen,
Fiametta is her name
  And she's the Rector's cousin !


III.

Her eyes are a flame
  To fire the heart of me !
A flame is her name,
  Her eyes are a flame,
My heart burns the same
  The fiercest of the three.
Her eyes are a flame
  To fire the heart of me.


IV.

Her life is a fire,
  A pure altar flame !
Through heaven and higher
  It burns as a fire
Past Angels in quire,
  For God is its aim !
Her life is a fire,
  A pure altar flame.


V.

I praised Fiametta's face
  Before I heard her singing.
Ah me, the dainty grace !
  I praised Fiametta's face,
She sang then, from their place
  The enraptured angels bringing.
I praised Fiametta's face
  Before I heard her singing.


VI.

But when the song was done
  I gave no further praising,
Eyes bold when Luna shone
  (Alas the song was done,)
Yet gaze not on the sun
  Lest they be blinded gazing,
So when the song was done
  I gave no further praising.


VII.

Since I am her's and she is mine
  We live in Love and fear no change !
For Love is God, so we divine,
  Since I am her's and she is mine.
In some fair love-land far and fine
  Through golden years our feet shall range.
Since I am her's and she is mine
  We live in Love and fear no change !


VIII.

Why dost thou look so pale, my Love ?
  Why dost thou sigh and say Farewell ?
"These myrtles seem a cypress grove,"
  Why dost thou look so pale, my Love ?
"I hear the raven, not the dove,
  And for the marriage-peal, a knell,"
Why dost thou look so pale, my Love ?
  Why dost thou sigh and say Farewell ?


IX.

"Since I can never come again
  When I am dead and gone from here,
Grieve not for me, all grief's in vain
Since I can never come again ;
But let no thought of me remain
  With my last kiss give thy last tear,
Since I can never come again
  When I am dead and gone from here."


X.

All the night and all the day
  I think upon her lying dead,
With lips that neither kiss nor pray
All the night nor all the day,
In that dark grave whose only ray
  Of sun or moon's her golden head.
All the night and all the day
  I think upon her lying dead.


XI.

Why should I live alone
  Since Love was all in vain ?
My heart to thine is flown
Why should I live alone ?
Dost thou too make thy moan
  In Paradise complain :
Why should I live alone
Since Love was all in vain ?


XII.

What can heal a broken heart ?
  Death alone I fear me,
Thou that dost true lovers part
What can heal a broken heart ?
Death alone that made the smart,
  Death that will not hear me.
What can heal a broken heart ?
  Death alone I fear me.