The collected poems of James Elroy Flecker/Last Love

Last Love

 

(From Novalis—adaptation of his last words)

 

Now for a last glad look upon life: my journey is ending:
Now this door that is Death quietly shuts me behind.
Thankful I hear Love's call—the faithful call of a comrade:
Then all joyful am I, ready to give her my heart.
All through life it is Love hath been my counsellor only:
Hers be the praise alway if I have followed aright.
For as a mother awakes with kisses her slumbering baby,
As she first has a care—as she alone understands—
So has Love been mine, has watched and tended and kissed me:
Near me when I was a child: near me till I was a man.
Thus, mid sorrow or doubt, I have clung to her, learning her lesson:
Now she has made me free—free to rejoice evermore.

1904 ?