Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/971

      In the years I've changed;
      Wild and far my heart has ranged,
And many sins and errors now have been on me avenged;
But to you I have been faithful whatsoever good I lack'd:
I loved you, and above my life still hangs that love intact—
Your love the trembling rainbow, I the reckless cataract.
      Still I love you, Barbara.

      Yet, Love, I am unblest;
      With many doubts opprest,
I wander like the desert wind without a place of rest.
Could I but win you for an hour from off that starry shore,
The hunger of my soul were still'd; for Death hath told you more
Than the melancholy world doth know—things deeper than all lore
      You could teach me, Barbara.

      In vain, in vain, in vain!
      You will never come again.
There droops upon the dreary hills a mournful fringe of rain;
The gloaming closes slowly round, loud winds are in the tree,
Round selfish shores for ever moans the hurt and wounded sea;
There is no rest upon the earth, peace is with Death and thee—
      Barbara!