And thus thy memory is to me
    Like some enchanted far-off isle
  In some tumultuous sea—­
  Some ocean throbbing far and free
    With storm—­but where meanwhile
  Serenest skies continually
    Just o’er that one bright inland smile.

1845.

* * * * *

TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD.

  Thou wouldst be loved?—­then let thy heart
    From its present pathway part not;
  Being everything which now thou art,
    Be nothing which thou art not. 
  So with the world thy gentle ways,
    Thy grace, thy more than beauty,
  Shall be an endless theme of praise. 
    And love a simple duty.

1845.

* * * * *

ELDORADO.

    Gaily bedight,
    A gallant knight,
  In sunshine and in shadow,
    Had journeyed long,
    Singing a song,
  In search of Eldorado. 
    But he grew old—­
    This knight so bold—­
  And o’er his heart a shadow
    Fell as he found
    No spot of ground
  That looked like Eldorado.

  And, as his strength
    Failed him at length,
  He met a pilgrim shadow—­
    “Shadow,” said he,
    “Where can it be—­
  This land of Eldorado?”

    “Over the Mountains
    Of the Moon,
  Down the Valley of the Shadow,
    Ride, boldly ride,”
    The shade replied,
  “If you seek for Eldorado!”

1849.

* * * * *

EULALIE.

I dwelt alone
In a world of moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride—­
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride. 
Ah, less—­less bright
The stars of the night
Than the eyes of the radiant girl! 
And never a flake
That the vapor can make
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,
Can vie with the modest Eulalie’s most unregarded curl—­
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie’s most humble and careless
curl. 
Now Doubt—­now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
And all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarte within the sky,
While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye—­
While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.

1845.

* * * * *

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM.