THE UNKNOWN QUEST
And thro’ that ever-importuning voice,
My soul divines and claims a sister-soul,
That, clothed upon with whatsoever joys,
Finds never freedom from the stern control
Of that same dark and irresistible Force
Me also driving on a chartless course.
I would not fling away my life, God knows,
But―should this rock lean over...should I fall,
Sink, rise...then feel thine arms about me close,
Feel this my life ta’en from me, once for all:
I. so I faced and found thatO my Sea,
To what a haven wouldst thou have guided me!
What craving, dost thou clamour day and night?
Seeking for what, can I desire life past?
Death! Death! within thy dark shall we find light,
And, ’mid thy void, our certain goal at last?—
Find, as it were, some once-familiar Breast
That will regather us—and so find rest?
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