Breathe but one breath
Rose-beauty above,
And all that was death
Grows life, grows love,
Grows love!
This is still the love of earth; but dealt with so grandly, that it is no wonder that some have understood it of the higher love, and to the question of the first line would give the answer, “God.” Nor can it be said that the thought is alien—rather is it close akin; for is not the earthly love, when pure and true, an image of the heavenly? It would be well, indeed, if love songs were oftener written in such a way as to suggest thoughts of the love of Heaven. The Bible is especially fearless in its use of the one to illustrate the other. With the higher thought in view, we are reminded of the closing lines of “The Rhyme of the Duchess May,” by Mrs. Browning—
“And I smiled to think God’s greatness flowed around our incompleteness—
Round our restlessness, His rest.”
Compare “By the Fireside,” especially stanza 39.