THE FOGY DAYS AND NOW. 



209 



JUDGE BLECKLEY'S PHANTOM LADY, 



O, Lady, Lady, Lady: 



Since I see you everywhere, 

 I know you are a phantom — 



A woman of the air. 

 I know you are ideal, 



But yet you seem to me 

 As manifestly real 



As any thing can be. 

 O, soul enchanting shadow, 



In the day and in the night. 

 As I gaze upon your beauty 



I tremble with delight. 



If men would hear me whisper 



How beautiful you seem, 

 They should slumber while they listen 



And dream it in a dream ; 

 For nothing so exquisite 



Can the waking senses reach- 

 Too fair, soft and tender 



For the nicest arts of speech. 



In a pensive, dreamy silence 



I am very often found. 

 As if listening to a rainbow 



Or looking at a sound. 

 'Tis then I see your beauty 



Reflected through my tears, 

 And I feel that I have loved you 



A thousand thousand years. 



