Why do I sit within the spell <br />Of eyes like thine, who oft have known <br />What 'tis in Beauty's gaze to dwell, <br />And then-to feel alone: <br />Back be remitted to my cell, <br />Too lately near a throne? <br /> <br />What though the moon on Trevi's fount, <br />Whilst we together drink, doth shine, <br />Can it the rural miles remount, <br />Or I subtract from mine? <br />Whilst Time hath scarce begun to count <br />The pleasant paths of thine. <br /> <br />How vain to thus divide its wave! <br />It will not help to blend our own. <br />Thy voice is gay, but mine is grave, <br />As thine too will have grown <br />In days when nought is left thee save <br />A half-remembered tone. <br /> <br />The light that gilds my world no more, <br />But only now just breaks on thine; <br />Thy shadows stretch all bright before, <br />Behind in darkness mine. <br />Leave me my unillumined shore, <br />And in thy lustre shine! <br /> <br />Forth to thy Future, gifted child! <br />Oh, be it fair as thou! <br />As thy sweet tones and temper mild, <br />And cloudless as thy brow; <br />And thou wilt then be reconciled <br />That I am silent now!<br /><br />Alfred Austin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fontana-di-trevi/
