Dominic Carlone has kindly shared Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom, his elegantly designed Hallam site at the University of Windsor (from which this document comes), with readers of the Victorian Web.]
Why throbbest thou, my heart, why thickly breathest?
I ask no rich and splendid eloquence:
A few words of the warmest and the sweetest
Sure thou mayst yield without such coy pretence:
Open the chamber where affection's voice,
For rare occasions is kept close and fine:
Bid it but say, 'Sweet Emily, be mine,'
So for one boldness thou shalt aye rejoice.
Fain would I speak when the full music-streams
Rise from her lips to linger on her face,
Or like a form floating through Raffaelle's dreams,
Then fixed by him in ever living grace,
She sits i' the silent worship of mine eyes.
Courage, my heart: change thou for words thy sighs.
Last modified 8 April 2000.