THE PROGRESS OF LOVE
(A LYRICAL SYMPHONY)
I
In other worlds I loved you, long ago:
Love that hath no beginning hath no end.
The woodbine whispers, low and sweet and low,
In other worlds I loved you, long ago;
The firwoods murmur and the sea-waves know
The message that the setting sun shall send.
In other worlds I loved you, long ago:
Love that hath no beginning hath no end.
II
And God sighed in the sunset; and the sea
Chanted the soft recessional of Time
Against the golden shores of mystery;
And ever as that long low change and chime
With one slow sob of molten music yearned
Westward, it seemed as if the Love sublime
Almost uttered itself, where the waves burned
In little flower-soft flames of rose and green
That woke to seaward, while the tides returned
Rising and falling, ruffled and serene,
With all the mirrored tints of heaven above
Shimmering through their mystic myriad sheen.
As a dove's burnished breast throbbing with love
Swells and subsides to call her soft-eyed mate
Home through the rosy gloom of glen or grove,