Reuben and Other Poems/In Exile
For works with similar titles, see In Exile.
IN EXILE
I
The sea is a lonely thing
Dwelling apart.
Lonely are you and I,
Heart of my heart.
Lonely the mountain-top
Stands in the sky.
Sunder’d as peak and sea
Are you and I.
The mountain cannot move,
The sea must stay.
Ruled is the world. We too,
We must obey.
II
The steady stars of Heaven
Look down into the brook;
Up from the brook to Heaven
The stars as steady look.
Amid the vale, the waters
Undeviating flow.
Past root and rock and forest
They go as they should go.
What keeps the brook so certain,
What rhymes the stars so true,
Hath sure some perfect reason
For parting me and you.
Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.
Reuben and Other Poems/In Exile