VII.
"The Heart is a Clock that gives warning before its Hour strikes."
Before they met they loved;
Their souls fore-felt each other: passing through
This life's dim treasure-caverns, on them grew
A whisper, clearer as they onwards moved;
"There is a Sesame that opens to
Yet richer chambers," so like Him who drew
The perfect circle of our globe, and proved,
That waiting for him on its margin (where
He knew not yet), A World in summer air
And muffling leaves and greenest quiet slept
Until he came to wake it, they were 'ware
Of this bright realm, this Virgin of the Sun,
This bride unsought, unwooed that should be won.
But of the luxury, the wealth it kept
In store, its gorgeous wilds, its solitude
Instinct with life, its tropic shade and glow
Alternating, they knew not, nor could know.
Yet, as they neared that shore, the deep was strown
With drifts of fragrant things,—and seawards-blown,
Strange birds with sunshine warm upon them, clung
About their masts, while evermore, like tales
So vague and sweet that spoken language fails
Their souls fore-felt each other: passing through
This life's dim treasure-caverns, on them grew
A whisper, clearer as they onwards moved;
"There is a Sesame that opens to
Yet richer chambers," so like Him who drew
The perfect circle of our globe, and proved,
That waiting for him on its margin (where
He knew not yet), A World in summer air
And muffling leaves and greenest quiet slept
Until he came to wake it, they were 'ware
Of this bright realm, this Virgin of the Sun,
This bride unsought, unwooed that should be won.
But of the luxury, the wealth it kept
In store, its gorgeous wilds, its solitude
Instinct with life, its tropic shade and glow
Alternating, they knew not, nor could know.
Yet, as they neared that shore, the deep was strown
With drifts of fragrant things,—and seawards-blown,
Strange birds with sunshine warm upon them, clung
About their masts, while evermore, like tales
So vague and sweet that spoken language fails
