And winds through the rigging shrill and sing;
Where night is one vast starless shade;
Where thy soul not afraid,
Tho' all alone unlonely,
Wanders and wavers, wavers wandering;
On that accursèd sea
One moment only,
Forget one moment, Love, thy fierce content;
Back let thy soul be bent—
Think back, dear Love, O Love, think back to me!
XVI—"A SONG OF THE MAIDEN MORN"
A song of the maiden morn,
A song for my little maid,
Of the silver sunlight born!
But I am afraid, afraid,
When I come my maid may be
Nothing, there, but a shade.
But O, her shadow is more to me
Than the shadowless light of eternity!
XVII—WORDS IN ABSENCE
I would that my words were as my fingers,
So that my Love might feel them move
Slowly over her brow, as lingers
The sunset wind o'er the world of its love.
I would that my words were as the beating
Of her own heart, that keeps repeating
My name through the livelong day and the night;
And when my Love her lover misses,—
Longs for and loves in the dark and the light,—
