IF, in the silence of this lonely eve, With the street lamp pale flickering on the wall, An angel were to whisper me, "Believe -- It shall be given thee. Call!" -- whom should I call? And then I were to see thee gliding in Clad in known garments, that with empty fold Lie in my keeping, and my fingers, thin As thine were once, to feel in thy safe hold: "I should fall weeping on thy neck and say, "I have so suffered since -- since -- " But my tears Would stop, remembering how thou count'st thy day A day that is with God a thousand years. Then what are these sad days, months, years of mine, To thine eternity of full delight? What my whole life, when myriad lives divine May wait, each leading to a higher height? I lose myself -- I faint. Beloved, best, Let me still dream, thy dear humanity Sits with me here, my head upon thy breast, And then I will go back to heaven with thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VICTOR RAFOLSKI ON ART by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION THE STARLIGHT NIGHT by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS SAILING BEYOND SEAS (OLD STYLE) by JEAN INGELOW ZERO by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: IBN KOLTHUM by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |