What aileth thee? whom waitest thou
With thy soften'd, shadow'd brow,
And those dew-lit eyes of thine, [2]
Thou faint smiler, Adeline?


5

Lovest thou the doleful wind
When thou gazest at the skies?
Doth the low-tongued Orient [3]
Wander from the side of [4] the morn,
Dripping with Sabsean spice
On thy pillow, lowly bent
With melodious airs lovelorn,
Breathing Light against thy face,
While his locks a-dropping [5] twined
Round thy neck in subtle ring
Make a 'carcanet of rays',[6]
And ye talk together still,
In the language wherewith Spring
Letters cowslips on the hill?
Hence that look and smile of thine,
Spiritual Adeline.


[Footnote 1: This conceit seems to have been borrowed from Shelley,
'Sensitive Plant', i.:--

And the hyacinth, purple and white and blue,