XV
Who is to blame that suddenly there fell
Suspicion like a shadow on our souls?
Love, who was once supreme, no more controls
The harmonies. Hark! Can you hear the bell
Across the valley of our tears that swell
The brook called Cedron? 'Tis a flood that rolls
Between us; while Doubt in his tower tolls
Love's loss in our dear, shattered miracle.
Was it a word that somehow clouded thought?
Was it a flaw in substance of myself
That proved two tendencies within me wrought—
Plantagenet commingled with the Guelph?
Ah, Love, if so, have patience, and behold
How God blends His base metals with the gold.
XVI
All night my soul groped blindly in a dream
Through mazes of a mighty corridor,
Pillared between the stars; and my heart bore
Its youthful sorrow, calling for the gleam
Shed from your golden body like a beam
Sent from the sun—a beauty nevermore
Mine to behold, to have, to cherish, for
Faith's rule was ended and Doubt stood supreme!
All night my soul groped blindly till the dawn
Woke on the world with matin song of birds
And choral thunder of the wind upon
The mountains; while the trees chanted the words
Of an old litany that cried the grief
Of lovers sundered through their lost belief!
XVII
Dear Love is fallen, fallen by my hand!
Lost is my Eden, closed its golden gate;
Winged seraphim, guarding the ways, await
With swords of sudden flame me to withstand.
I am that uncrowned king at whose command
Earth and the sky obeyed, things small and great
Bowed down to serve. Oh, terrible the fate
Of Adam, lonely in an alien land!