A gift of Silence, sweet!

In lands profoundly shadedFrom tempest and from sun:Ah, once more come together,Shall we forgive the past,And safe from worldly weatherPossess our souls at last?Or in our place of shadowsShall still we stretch an handTo green, remembered meadows,Of that old pleasant land?And vainly there foregathered,Shall we regret the sun?The rose of love, ungathered?The bay, we have…

A poor rhyme roughly wrought,A rose to match thy snow:All that I had I brought.Little enough I sought:But a word compassionate,A passing glance, or thought,For me outside the gate:Little enough I sought.Little enough I found:All that you had, perchance!With the dead leaves on the ground,I dance the devil’s dance.All that you had I found.

Do you remember, Yvonne!The dear trees lavishingRain of their starry blossomsTo make you a coronet?Do you ever remember, Yvonne,As I remember yet?In your mother’s apple-orchard,When the world was left behind:You were shy, so shy, Yvonne!But your eyes were calm and kind.We spoke of the apple harvest,When the cider press is set,And such-like trifles, Yvonne,That doubtless…

In fierce Atlantic ways;And found not there,Beneath the long curled wave,So quiet a grave.And they sleep well,These peasant-folk, who told their lives away,From day to market-day,As one should tell,With patient industry,Some sad old rosary.And now night falls,Me, tempest-tost, and driven from pillar to post,A poor worn ghost,This quiet pasture calls;And dear dead people with pale…

A place of shadows utterly,Where never coos the turtle-dove,A world forgotten of the sun:I dreamed we met when day was done,And marvelled at our ancient love.Met there by chance, long kept apart,We wandered through the darkling glades;And that old language of the heartWe sought to speak: alas! poor shades!Over our pallid lips had runThe waters…

For vainly my heart prays,Hope droops her head and dies;I see the sad, tired answer in your eyes.I did not heed, and yet the stars were clear;Dreaming that love could mateLives grown so separate;–But at the best, my dear,I see we should not have been very near.I knew the end before the end was nigh:The…