Poems (Greenwell)/Reserve
RESERVE.
Now would I learn thee like some noble task That payeth well for labour; I would find Thy soul's true Dominant, and thus unwind Its deeper, rarer harmonies, that ask Interpreting; for like a gracious mask Is thy calm, quiet bearing; far behind Thy spirit sits and smiles in sunshine kind, And fain within that fulness mine would bask: Set if thou wilt this bar betwixt thy tide Of feeling and the world that might misknow Its strength; use ever with the crowd this pride, "Thus far, and yet no farther shall ye go;" But not with me, dear friend, whose heart stands wide To drink in all thy Being's overflow.