Page:Once a Week June to Dec 1863.pdf/164

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154
ONCE A WEEK.
[Aug. 1, 1863.

But when day dawn’d and he awoke,
That rainbow-dream had pass’d for ever—
The nymph had turn’d to stone again,
To wake to life and beauty—never.
With a deep sigh he kiss’d the lips
Of that sweet nymph, once more reposing;
Then seized his shaping-steel and clay
To toil till life’s long day was closing.

He wept not, but, in patience strong,
Thought of the blissful re-uniting,
As soldiers do of rest and sleep
After a long day’s toilsome fighting;
And in his art content he toil’d
To deck that fane of Aphroditè,
And by him, as he laboured, stood
His statue of the gentle Clytè.

Walter Thornbury.