Under the light of the silver moon,
    We two sat, when our hearts were young;
The night was warm with the breath of June,
    And loud from the meadow the cricket sung,
        And darker and deeper, O love, than the sea
        Were your dear eyes, as they beamed on me.

The moon hung clear, and the night was still;
    The water reflected the glittering skies;
The nightingale sang on the distant hill;
    But sweeter than all was the light in your eyes--
        Your dear, dark eyes, your eyes like the sea,--
        And up from the depths, shone love for me.

My heart, like a river, was mad and wild--
    And a river is not deep, like the sea;
But I said your love was the love of a child,
    Compared with the love that was felt by me.
        A river leaps noisily, kissing the land,
        But the sea is fathomless, deep and grand.

I vowed to love you, for ever and ever;
    I called you cold, on that night in June,
But my fierce love, like a reckless river,
    Dashed on, and away, and was spent too soon;
        While yours--ah, yours was deep, like the sea:
         I cheated you, love, but you died for me!