THE INVITATION TO THE VOYAGE
How sweet, my own,
Could we live alone
Over beyond the sea!
To love and to die
Indolently
In the land that’s akin to thee!
Where the suns which rise
In the watery skies
Weave soft spells over my sight,
As thy false eyes do
When they flicker through
Their tears with a dim, strange light.
There all is beauty and symmetry,
Pleasure and calm and luxury.
Years that have gone
Have polished and shone
The things that would fill our room;
The flowers most rare
Which scent the air
In the richly-ceiling’d gloom,
And the mirrors profound,
And the walls around
With Orient splendour hung,
To the soul would speak
Of things she doth seek
In her gentle native tongue.
There all is beauty and symmetry,
Pleasure and calm and luxury.
