They wait for me while I stay for you!"
And a parting smile of her blue eyes through
The glimmering carriage-pane.

Then thoughts of the past come crowding fast
On a blissful track of love and sighs;--
Oh, well I toiled, and these poor hands soiled,
That her song might bloom in Italian skies!--
The pains and fears of those lonely years,
The nights of longing and hope and tears,--
Her heart's sweet debt, and the long arrears
Of love in those faithful eyes!

O night! be friendly to her and me!--
To box and pit and gallery swarm
The expectant throngs;--I am there to see;--
And now she is bending her radiant form
To the clapping crowd;--I am thrilled and proud;
My dim eyes look through a misty cloud,
And my joy mounts up on the plaudits loud,
Like a sea-bird on a storm!

She has waved her hand; the noisy rush
Of applause sinks down; and silverly
Her voice glides forth on the quivering hush,
Like the white-robed moon on a tremulous sea!
And wherever her shining influence calls,
I swing on the billow that swells and falls,--
I know no more,--till the very walls
Seem shouting with jubilee!