O LOVED AND LOST.
121
One look into your eyes; one clasp of hands;
One murmured "Lo, I love you as before;"
And I would give you to your viewless lands,
And wait my time with never tear nor sigh;—
But not a whisper comes from earth or sky,
And the sole answer to my yearning cry
Is the faint wash of waves along the shore.
One murmured "Lo, I love you as before;"
And I would give you to your viewless lands,
And wait my time with never tear nor sigh;—
But not a whisper comes from earth or sky,
And the sole answer to my yearning cry
Is the faint wash of waves along the shore.
Lord! dost Thou see how dread a thing is death
When silence such as this is all it leaves?—
To watch in agony the parting breath
Till the fond eyes are closed, the dear voice still;
And know that not the wildest prayer can thrill
Thee to awake them, but our grief must fill
Alike the rosy morns, the rainy eves.
When silence such as this is all it leaves?—
To watch in agony the parting breath
Till the fond eyes are closed, the dear voice still;
And know that not the wildest prayer can thrill
Thee to awake them, but our grief must fill
Alike the rosy morns, the rainy eves.
Ah! Thou dost see; and not a pang is vain!—
Some joy of every anguish must be born;
Else this one planet's weight of loss and pain
Would stay the stars in sympathetic woe,
And make the suns move pale, and cold, and slow,
Till all was black and void, thy throne below,
And night shut down without a gleam of morn.
Some joy of every anguish must be born;
Else this one planet's weight of loss and pain
Would stay the stars in sympathetic woe,
And make the suns move pale, and cold, and slow,
Till all was black and void, thy throne below,
And night shut down without a gleam of morn.
But mark! the sun goes radiant to his goal
While winds make music o'er the laughing sea;
And, with his set, the starry host will roll
While winds make music o'er the laughing sea;
And, with his set, the starry host will roll
