And so I clambered up the bank
And threw the blossom down,
But we were sadder for its sake
As we walked back to town.
A LOVE-LETTER
Darling little woman, just a little line,
Just a little silver word
For that dear gold of thine,
Only a whisper you have so often heard:
Only such a whisper as hidden in a shell
Holds a little breath of all the mighty sea,
But think what a little of all its depth and swell,
And think what a little is this little note of me.
'Darling, I love thee, that is all I live for'—
There is the whisper stealing from the shell,
But here is the ocean, O so deep and boundless,
And each little wave with its whisper as well.
IN THE NIGHT
'Kiss me, dear Love!'—
But there was none to hear,
Only the darkness round about my bed
And hollow silence, for thy face had fled,
Though in my dreaming it had come so near.
I slept again and it came back to me,
Burning within the hollow arch of night
Like some fair flame of sacrificial light,
And all my soul sprang up to mix with thee—
'Kiss me, my love!
Ah, Love, thy face how fair!'
So did I cry, but still thou wert not there.
THE CONSTANT LOVER
I see fair women all the day,
They pass and pass—and go;
I almost dream that they are shades
Within a shadow-show.