How dare I face the future and its drouth,
Missing that golden honeycomb thy mouth?

Kiss and make up--'tis the wise ancient way;
Back to my arms, O bountiful deep breast!
No more of words that know not what they say;
To kiss is wisdom--folly all the rest.
Dear loveliness so mercifully pressed
Against my heart--I shake with sudden fear
To think--to losing thee I came so near.




SHADOWS

Shadows! the only shadows that I know
Are happy shadows of the light of you,
The radiance immortal shining through
Your sea-deep eyes up from the soul below;
Your shadow, like a rose's, on the grass
Where your feet pass.

The shadow of the dimple in your chin,
The shadow of the lashes of your eyes,
As on your cheek, soft as a moth, it lies;
And, as a church, I softly enter in
The solemn twilight of your mighty hair,
Down falling there.