RELEASE.
I.
Away!—No more, the sport of scorn,
My vassal love shall serve the Past.
The bonded athlete, blind and shorn,
Hath pull’d the darkness down at last!
II.
The gilded wire he once would spurn
The bird shall seek; the slave, once free,
To keep the bonds he burst shall turn;
Ere I return, weak heart, to thee.
III.
I gave thee up my life in thrall.
God wot, it was no silken thread!
Thy pride would make the gyves to gall;
And it has made them break instead.
IV.
Thy smiles might make me smile again:
Thy frowns in me no frown can move:
Thine art is less than my disdain:
Thy scorn is weak, as was my love.
V.
Out of the long lethargic trance
Of tears I wake with sudden strength.
My heart is cold beneath thy glance:
And pain hath grown to power at length.
VI.
The suns must shine: the months will bring
Fresh flowers. New heat my fancy warms.
Young hopes cry out, like birds that sing
Against the wake of thunderstorms.
VII.
A light through tears! new forms, new powers
Arise: new life my spirit fills:
As down dark skirts of drifting showers
The wild light reels among the hills.
VIII.
Where leaves are sear new buds may start:
Spring flowers may blow from winter frost:
But never to the selfish heart
Returns the empire pride hath lost.
IX.
There’s but a moment ’twixt the Past
And all the Future. Now I see
That mystic moment’s o’er at last;
And I am far away from thee.
Trevor.