40
That was my girlhood, till I met with you,
Since when, with leaden feet and heart on fire,
Sowing desire but to reap disdain
Through summer dust and winter's mire I glean'd
Uncertain harvest of the stoney street,
To find you now a broken, ill, old man,
Myself a woman worn with miseries;
Had I not found you, from Virginia
Plantation flying, never more for me
Had lighted lattice and a hearth aglow
Held out a welcome, I was near to death,
You took me in, and that shall plead for you,
Against your sentence, at the last assize!
Sylvester:
I ask no advocate to plead for me
But for myself will answerthere, Lenore,
We will not talk of dying, but of life
Our life that shall be in the years to come.
A happy life in Europe! We will dwell
