The Poetry Corner

De Profundis.

By Charles Hamilton Musgrove

I thought today within the crowded mart I saw thee for a moment, friend of mine, And all at once my blood leapt fast and fine And a new light broke on my shadowed heart. 'T was but a moment that my fancy's art Moulded another's features into thine, For when he passed me by and gave no sign, The bitter truth came back with sudden start. Then I remembered how the Merlin spell Of waving arms and woven paces bands Thy dust forever in its four-walled cell, Heedless of all except thy Seer's commands-- Holds thee enraptured with the charms that dwell In broken paces and in folded hands.