I vowed to love you, for ever and ever;
I called you cold, on that night in June,
But my fierce love, like a reckless river
Dashed oh, and away, and was spent too soon;
While yours--ah, yours was deep like the sea;
I cheated you, love, but you died for me!
[LOVE.]
In all earth's music, grand, or sweet, or strong,
To hear one name, as if 'twere set in song.
In all my poems, written 'neath the sun,
To find the praises, o'er and o'er, in one.
To feel thyself a lesser part of what
Hadst thou not found, the earth would be as naught.
To think all beauty, perfectness and grace,
As but the shadow of one worshiped face.
With that face's coming, to bask in warmth and light
And with its going to grope, as in the night.
To rather feel a dear hand's stinging blow
Than any caress another might bestow.
To rather sit in gloom, and hear one voice
Than, missing that, on mountain tops rejoice.
To lose all individual hope and aim,
And have no wish, but for another's fame.