“The deed was done in distant lands,
But his blood dabbled these same hands,
And under trees where pale stars shine
His eyes looked into mine.
“One look from those dead eyes of his,
And love rushed back to him; was this
The climax of his life who seemed
The king my boyhood dreamed?
“Shall sin and shall not love endure?—
Love grounded in the past and pure,
Man’s love for man, for angels fit,
Could one act shatter it?”
The boy sat upright, pale as death,
A numbness stole away his breath,
The fascination of the eye,
Which moved convulsively.
“I fled at sunrise down the bay
To where a mystic island lay,
Dazed with the cloudless arch of sky
And waves’ monotony.
“And here a convent open stood,
Where monks sought peace in solitude;
I entered with the rest to hide
Within the Crucified.
“I told my woe to one; he said,—
‘Under thy feet, and overhead,
And all around is God. To-night,
Keep vigil, pray for light.’
“That night in cave-shrine, visions three
God and the Virgin sent to me;
Four angels fenced the cavern’s mouth
With locked wings, north and south.
“Thrice darkness fell, and thrice I lay
Low-poised above a sea, no day
Lit up its shoreless waves, no night
Shut distance from the sight.
“No fish leaped up, no God looked down,
No sound there was, I strove to drown,—
Ere waves were touched a wind did spring,
And bore me on its wing.