SONG OF THE NEWLY-WEDDED.
The ring is on my hand,
And the wreath is on my brow;
Satins and jewels grand
Are all at my command,
And I am happy now.
And my lord he loves me well,
But, when he breath'd his vow,
I felt my bosom swell —
For the words rang like a knell,
And the voice seem'd his who fell
In the battle down the dell,
And who is happy now.
But he spoke to re-asure me,
And he kissed my pallid brow,
While a reverie came o're me,
And to the church-yard bore me,
And I sighed to him before me,
Thinking him dead D'Elormie,
"Oh, I am happy now!"
And thus the words were spoken,
And this the plighted vow,
And, though my faith be broken,
And, though my heart be broken,
Behold the golden token
That proves me happy now!
Would God I could awaken!
For I dream I know not how,
And my soul is sorely shaken,
Lest an evil step be taken, —
Lest the dead who is forsaken
May not be happy now.
[This poem is one of several included in a much-romanticised biographical article about Poe, written by his friend Henry Beck Hirst: "The Poets & Poetry of Philadelphia, Number II — Edgar Allan Poe."]