Was there ever in us one caress,
One joyous laugh, or tenderness
We dared not strew before us on our way?
Or ever prayer in silence heard,
Whose dim, unuttered word
We sought to stay?
A single yearning of compassion.
A quiet vow or one of passion
We sought to slay?
So, loving thus,
Our hearts, like two apostles, went
Seeking the lowly ones with timid brow,
Who, feeling then so bound to us,
Proclaimed on high love's ravishment,
As a flowery people loves the bough
That holds them bathed in the sun's warm ray;
Our souls, grown greater still by this re-birth,
Began to glory those who feel love's sway,
Increasing love by love's own might,
To cherish thus divinely the whole earth
That seemed reflected in our own souls' light.