O thou whose presence so long sooth'd my soul,
Now burnt with thy remembrance! O so long
The light that fed these eyes now dark with tears!
O long, long home of love now lost for ever!
We were together--that was all enough--
We two rejoicing in each other's eyes,
Infinitely rejoicing--all the world
Nothing to us, nor we to all the world:
No road to reach us, nor an eye to watch--
All day we whisper'd in each other's ears,
All night we slept in one another's arms--
All seem'd to our desire, as if the hand
Of unjust Fortune were for once too short.
O would to God that when I lit the pyre
The flame had left thee living and me dead,
Not living worse than dead, depriv'd of thee!
O were I but with thee! at any cost
Stript of this terrible self-solitude!
O but with thee annihilation--lost,
Or in eternal intercourse renew'd!
"THE HARVEST OF ETERNITY"
My son, the kingdom of the world is not
Eternal, nor the sum of right desire!
Make thou the faith-preserving intellect
Thy counsellor; and considering to-day
To-morrow's seed-field, ere that come to bear
Sow with the harvest of eternity.