For when he saw The stricken awe Upon my face, He left his place And winged into the upper air-- My visaged grief he could not bear. A little child, By me beguiled But yesterday From busy play, This morning hurried from these eyes-- He could not look where courage dies! Under the sun Two selves are one: Sorrow and I! Oh, let me die, And never meet the month of May-- Now that your face is turned away! THE EMPTY ROOM Out of the storm I hurry in To find an empty room; I call and call, but no footfall Answers across the room: Vainly your eyes I seek to win, You are not here! O dear--my dear, There is no sound and stir of you! I know not what to do. I know not what to do or say, I stand with vacant stare Upon the brink of pain to think: "Love, whither dost thou fare?" An echo answers: "Gone away!" Your roses red their petals shed Upon the book of verse I gave, Like tears down on a grave! LOVE ETERNAL Let us walk together, lass, (Lean upon me--so!) Through the field of feathergrass (How the daisies grow!) Till we find the word to say What is in our hearts to-day. Yes, I loved you from the first. Dear, there is surprise Blent with hunger and with thirst In your eager eyes, And you whisper: "Is it true?"-- Knowing that I always knew! Let me tell you how it came: Voices through the room; Then one spoke to me your name (Take this wild rose bloom-- I will place it in your hair) And of you I was aware. "She is of a slender grace, Like my Maid of dreams!" To myself I said--"Her face With that beauty gleams-- Beauty of that One I know In the Land of Long-Ago!" Did you, dearest, understand Why the scarlet grew On my forehead, when my hand Your fair fingers knew? Oh, the world went very still While on me you worked your will! Worked your will? Do not deny; For your heart was wise-- Ah, you shake your head and try Vainly to disguise What was on your lips to say When we met that fateful day! For from all eternity We are pledged to love, Bound in all our lives to be True to what above All the turmoil and the din Strives that starry tryst to win. Sit with me upon this stone Underneath the bough; Let the blossoms to us blown Learn our ancient vow-- Vow we made before the stars Strove to break Night's prison-bars. Lift your head and meet my gaze. Do you not recall Somewhere in a golden haze, Vistaed vast, a hall Paved with diamond and domed Blue above a fount that foamed With the water from the well Guarded, so they say, By the angel Israfel? Water of eternal bliss Sprinkled on the lips that kiss! There we lived before the suns Led the planets up; There we pledged the winged Ones In a crystal cup, Ere we left that pillared home Through the field of Time to roam.