Rhymes On The Road. Extract X. Mantua.

Verses of Hippolyta to her Husband.     They tell me thou'rt the favored guest         Of every fair and brilliant throng;     No wit like thine to wake the jest,         No voice like thine to breathe the song.     And none could guess, so gay thou art,     That thou and I are far apart.     Alas, alas! how different flows,         With thee and me the time away!     Not that I wish thee sad, heaven knows--         Still if thou canst, be light and gay;     I only know that without thee     The sun himself is dark for me.     Do I put on the jewels rare     Thou'st always loved to see me wear?     Do I perfume the locks that thou     So oft hast braided o'er my brow,     Thus deckt thro' festive crowds to run,         And all the assembled world to see,--     All but the one, the absent one,         Worth more than present worlds to me!     No, nothing cheers this widowed heart--     My only joy from thee apart,     From thee thyself, is sitting hours         And days before thy pictured form--     That dream of thee, which Raphael's powers         Have made with all but life-breath warm!     And as I smile to it, and say     The words I speak to thee in play,     I fancy from their silent frame,     Those eyes and lips give back the same:     And still I gaze, and still they keep     Smiling thus on me--till I weep!     Our little boy too knows it well,         For there I lead him every day     And teach his lisping lips to tell         The name of one that's far away.     Forgive me, love, but thus alone     My time is cheered while thou art gone.