Dominic Carlone has kindly shared Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom, his elegantly designed Hallam site at the University of Windsor (from which this document comes), with readers of the Victorian Web.
When gentle fingers cease to touch the string,
Dear Charles, no music lingers on the lyre;
But the sea-shells from everlasting ring
With the deep murmurs of their home desire:
Lean o'er the shell, and 'twill be heard to plain,
Now low, now high, till all thy sense is gone
Into the sweetness; then depart again,
Still though unheard, flows on that inner moan;
Full oft like one of these our human heart
Secretly murmurs on a loving lay,
Though not a tone finds any outward way.
Then trust me, Charles, not let it cause thee smart,
That seldom in my songs thy name is seen--
When most I loved, I most have silent been.
Last modified 8 April 2000.