XVI
We must be kinder to each other, Dear,
Than others are whose love by law is blest,
Slower to wound, cavil, think ill—grieve—lest
We break the iris band that binds us near!
We must be crueller to each other, Dear,
Than others are whose love by law is blest,
Quicker to know Truth’s shining scalpel’s best
And use it bravely. No blot can be here!
Have you thought where ’tis set, this great love-dower?
There! pendulous ’twixt sacrilege and shame,
Uncertain, floating, impotent to bring
A permanence. O! would ours were the power
God-like to make, create a soul, a name,
And touch it whitely with Life’s deathless wing!