I—The Frontier
At the hushed brink of twilight,—when, as
though1
Some solemn journeying phantom paused to lay2
An ominous finger on the awestruck day,3
Earth holds her breath till that great presence go,—4
A moment comes of visionary glow,5
Pendulous ’twixt the gold hour and the grey,6
Lovelier than these, more eloquent than they7
Of memory, foresight, and life’s ebb and flow.8
So have I known, in some fair woman’s face,9
While viewless yet was Time’s more gross imprint,10
The first, faint, hesitant, elusive hint11
Of that invasion of the vandal years12
Seem deeper beauty than youth’s cloudless grace,13
Wake subtler dreams, and touch me nigh to tears.14