Lines written for a picture

Sing me to-night some gay refrain,Sweet rhymes that ring out peals of gladness,Nor let thy jesting lips profaneEven the name of sadness.

Put from thine eye its vague unrest,And chide the darkness from thy brow,That we, who met with smile and jest,May part as lightly now.

We've scoffed at love, we've laughed at faith,(Ah, woe the while for you and me!)No pledge that's breathed by human breathWere pledge to such as we.

Oh, we've trifled away the sweetest dreamsEver let loose from the courts above,And linked our jests to the noblest themesGod and the angels love!

Shame me no more with mimic sighs—Poor cheat of love! poor mock of woe:But show me in thy lifted eyesThe scorn I look thee now.