Her Voice

The wild bee reels from bough to boughWith his furry coat and his gauzy wing,Now in a lily-cup, and nowSetting a jacinth bell a-swing,In his wandering;Sit closer love: it was here I trowI made that vow,

Swore that two lives should be like oneAs long as the sea-gull loved the sea,As long as the sunflower sought the sun,—It shall be, I said, for eternity'Twixt you and me!Dear friend, those times are over and done,Love's web is spun.

Look upward where the poplar treesSway and sway in the summer air,Here in the valley never a breezeScatters the thistledown, but thereGreat winds blow fairFrom the mighty murmuring mystical seas,And the wave-lashed leas.

Look upward where the white gull screams,What does it see that we do not see?Is that a star? or the lamp that gleamsOn some outward voyaging argosy,—Ah! can it beWe have lived our lives in a land of dreams!How sad it seems.

Sweet, there is nothing left to sayBut this, that love is never lost,Keen winter stabs the breasts of MayWhose crimson roses burst his frost,Ships tempest-tossedWill find a harbour in some bay,And so we may.

And there is nothing left to doBut to kiss once again, and part,Nay, there is nothing we should rue,I have my beauty,—you your Art,Nay, do not start,One world was not enough for twoLike me and you.