• For thee to take the meting-rod
• In turn, and so approve on God
• Thy science of Theometry.

• To God at best, to Chance at worst,
• Give thanks for good things, last as first.
• But windstrown blossom is that good
• Whose apple is not gratitude.
• Even if no prayer uplift thy face,
• 90Let the sweet right to render grace
• As thy soul's cherished child be nurs'd.

• Didst ever say, “Lo, I forget”?
• Such thought was to remember yet.
• As in a gravegarth, count to see
• The monuments of memory.
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• Be this thy soul's appointed scope:—
• Gaze onward without claim to hope,
• Nor, gazing backward, court regret.

       

• Honey-flowers to the honey-comb
• And the honey-bee's from home.

• A honey-comb and a honey-flower,
• And the bee shall have his hour.

• A honeyed heart for the honey-comb,
• And the humming bee flies home.

• A heavy heart in the honey-flower,
• And the bee has had his hour.

   

• A honey-cell's in the honeysuckle,
• 10And the honey-bee knows it well.

• The honey-comb has a heart of honey,
• And the humming bee's so bonny.

• A honey-flower's the honeysuckle,
• And the bee's in the honey-bell.

• The honeysuckle is sucked of honey,
• And the bee is heavy and bonny.

   

• Brown shell first for the butterfly
• And a bright wing by and by.

• Butterfly, good-bye to your shell,
• 20And, bright wings, speed you well.

• Bright lamplight for the butterfly
• And a burnt wing by and by.

• Butterfly, alas for your shell,
• And, bright wings, fare you well.

   

• Lost love-labour and lullaby,
• And lowly let love lie.

• Lost love-morrow and love-fellow
• And love's life lying low.

• Lovelorn labour and life laid by
• 30And lowly let love lie.

• Late love-longing and life-sorrow
• And love's life lying low.

   

• Beauty's body and benison
• With a bosom-flower new blown.

• Bitter beauty and blessing bann'd
• With a breast to burn and brand.

• Beauty's bower in the dust o'erblown
• With a bare white breast of bone.

• Barren beauty and bower of sand
• 40With a blast on either hand.

   

• Buried bars in the breakwater
• And bubble of the brimming weir.

• Body's blood in the breakwater
• And a buried body's bier.

• Buried bones in the breakwater
• And bubble of the brawling weir.

• Bitter tears in the breakwater
• And a breaking heart to bear.

   

• Hollow heaven and the hurricane
• 50And hurry of the heavy rain.

• Hurried clouds in the hollow heaven
• And a heavy rain hard-driven.

• The heavy rain it hurries amain
• And heaven and the hurricane.

• Hurrying wind o'er the heaven's hollow
• And the heavy rain to follow.

   

• Love, I speak to your heart,
• Your heart that is always here.
• Oh draw me deep to its sphere,
• Though you and I are apart;
• And yield, by the spirit's art,
• Each distant gift that is dear.
• O love, my love, you are here!

• Your eyes are afar to-day,
• Yet, love, look now in mine eyes.
• 10 Two hearts sent forth may despise
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• All dead things by the way.
• All between is decay,
• Dead hours and this hour that dies,
• O love, look deep in mine eyes!

• Your hands to-day are not here,
• Yet lay them, love, in my hands.
• The hourglass sheds its sands
• All day for the dead hours' bier;
• But now, as two hearts draw near,
• 20 This hour like a flower expands.
• O love, your hands in my hands!

• Your voice is not on the air,
• Yet, love, I can hear your voice:
• It bids my heart to rejoice
  page: 284  
• As knowing your heart is there,—
• A music sweet to declare
• The truth of your steadfast choice.
• O love, how sweet is your voice!

• To-day your lips are afar,
• 30 Yet draw my lips to them, love,
• Around, beneath, and above,
• Is frost to bind and to bar;
• But where I am and you are,
• Desire and the fire thereof.
• O kiss me, kiss me, my love!

• Your heart is never away,
• But ever with mine, for ever,
• For ever without endeavour,
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• To-morrow, love, as to-day;
• 40Two blent hearts never astray,
• Two souls no power may sever,
• Together, O my love, for ever!

   

• Leaves and rain and the days of the year,
• ( Water-willow and wellaway,)
• All these fall, and my soul gives ear,
• And she is hence who once was here.
• ( With a wind blown night and day .)

• Ah! but now, for a secret sign,
• ( The willow's wan and the water white ,)
• In the held breath of the day's decline
• Her very face seemed pressed to mine.
• 10 ( With a wind blown day and night .)

• O love, of my death my life is fain;
• ( The willows wave on the water-way,)
• Your cheek and mine are cold in the rain,
• But warm they'll be when we meet again.
• ( With a wind blown night and day .)

• Mists are heaved and cover the sky;
• ( The willows wail in the waning light ,)
• O loose your lips, leave space for a sigh,—
• They seal my soul, I cannot die.
• 20 ( With a wind blown day and night .)

• Leaves and rain and the days of the year,
• ( Water-willow and wellaway,)
• All still fall, and I still give ear,
• And she is hence, and I am here.
• ( With a wind blown night and day .)

   

• In this new shade of Death, the show
• Passes me still of form and face;
• Some bent, some gazing as they go,
• Some swiftly, some at a dull pace,
• Not one that speaks in any case.

• If only one might speak!—the one
• Who never waits till I come near;
• But always seated all alone
• As listening to the sunken air,
• 10 Is gone before I come to her.