Meet? What is eternity,

If not that moment of a wild embrace,

When two souls recognize

Their first bewildered contact, and two eyes

Drink the white radiance of a lover’s face?

Oh, ere the evening lights go gathering like fire

Across the western portals—ere the sun

Proclaims that life and life’s short tasks are done—

Be thou the mistress of my pure desire,

Be thou the goddess of my heart!