Songs and Sonnets (Coleman)/At Parting
For works with similar titles, see At Parting.
AT PARTING.
Keep thou amidst the fulness of thy days
Some little space apart for thoughts of me,
Where all the best I have and am may be
Familiar and essential to thy ways;
Make thou the hours as shining argosies
Emblazoned with the love I bear to thee,
And freighted with my spirit's hidden plea—
At once thy inspiration and thy praise.
For he who keeps within his heart a shrine
Where tender dreams may gather, makes defenc
Against encroaching tides that undermine
The soul's integrity and confidence,
And I would have, in every act of thine,
Love's presence conscious to thy deeper sense.