Poem by Henry Timrod

Second Love

Could I reveal the secret joy
Thy presence always with it brings,
The memories so strangely waked
Of long forgotten things,

The love, the hope, the fear, the grief,
Which with that voice come back to me, --
Thou wouldst forgive the impassioned gaze
So often turned on thee.

It was, indeed, that early love,
But foretaste of this second one, --
The soft light of the morning star
Before the morning sun.

The same dark beauty in her eyes,
The same blonde hair and placid brow,
The same deep-meaning, quiet smile
Thou bendest on me now,

She might have been, she WAS no more
Than what a prescient hope could make, --
A dear presentiment of thee
I loved but for thy sake. 

1. Hymn Sung at the Consecration of Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S.C.
2. Too Long, O Spirit of Storm
3. Hymn Sung at an Anniversary of the Asylum of Orphans at Charleston
4. Lines to R. L.
5. A Cry to Arms

John Kenyon Second Love ("The ne'er-forgetting! him who loves but once!")

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