Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/205

But when your names arose that ever there
Are nearest to my spirit, all my prayer
Was stayed upon their sound, as when a strain
Recurring oft unbidden, will enchain
The sense to track its cadence, I must pause
Upon these words that ever on my way
O'erlook me urgent, "Pray yet longer, pray
For them thou lovest,—is there not a cause?"

        And even then ye wept;
And even then o'er Desert and o'er Sea
Were deathful tidings speeding on to me,
 That knew them through a steadfast pulse that kept
Its pace with yours; I needed but to tear
My festal robes to show the sackcloth bare
 They hid; and even with the iron tongue
 That knelled your loss, a warning presage flung
Across my path the shadow of your care!

        And quickly hath this keen
Vibration brought us to the other near,
 Because the air betwixt us was serene;
And calm as when on mountain summits clear,
We count distinct the fall of distant bells,
So is there stillness round the soul that dwells
In Love! The spirit loosened from the jar
Of earthly turbulence, can hear afar
 Belovèd footsteps stir, and thus we prove
 Through very pain the comforting of Love.
For we have parted at a wrench from all