Let us both sit down on the old worm-eaten bench
near the path; and let my hand remain a long
while within your two steadfast hands.
With my hand that remains a long while given
up to the sweet consciousness of being on your
knees, my heart also, my earnest, gentle heart,
seems to rest between your two kind hands.
And we share an intense joy and a deep love to
feel that we are so happy together, without one
over-strong word to come trembling to our lips,
or one kiss even to go burning towards your brow.
And we would prolong the ardour of this silence
and the stillness of our mute desires, were it
not that suddenly, feeling them quiver, I clasp
tightly, without willing it, your thinking hands;
Your hands in which my whole happiness is hidden,
and which would never, for anything in the world,
deal violently with those deep things we live by,
although in duty we do not speak of them.