Shades on the very path they glorify—

And ecstasy would perish but for wo.

I asked not if she loved me; for reply

To every doubt, I read her glance and tone,

And made them oracles of destiny.

They whispered love—I deemed that love my own:

Nor guessed that in the mirror of my song

She saw an idol face to me unknown.

Nor that the chords of my devotion, strung

To feeling’s highest tension for her sake,