Elopement

Damned be thy father's withheld blessing!

Thou art not his property to give.

For it be not his love which I seek.

Let him keep his sacred dowry.

Underneath the midnight moon,

Flee south past the trickling creek.

If thy devotion holds fast,

Two houses shall be one in the morn.

Carry with thee nothing but

Thy soul and a white dress;

A bouquet of wild violets:

The bridal trousseau.

Sitting shall I be,

Beneath the dogwood trees.

In my hand a sweetgrass basket,

Laden with almonds and wine.

Down the grassy aisle,

Stands a hollowed stone-set chapel.

There shall God bind our hands,

Forever in a lover's knot.

Then together we shall live,

Two beings, one heart.

Dwelling in an existence,

That even Death cannot part.