Conversion.

I have lived this life as the skeptic lives it;          I have said the sweetness was less than the gall;              Praising, nor cursing, the Hand that gives it,          I have drifted aimlessly through it all.              I have scoffed at the tale of a so-called heaven;          I have laughed at the thought of a Supreme Friend;              I have said that it only to man was given          To live, to endure; and to die was the end.              But I know that a good God reigneth,          Generous-hearted and kind and true;              Since unto a worm like me he deigneth          To send so royal a gift as you.              Bright as a star you gleam on my bosom,          Sweet as a rose that the wild bee sips;              And I know, my own, my beautiful blossom,          That none but a God could mould such lips.              And I believe, in the fullest measure          That ever a strong man's heart could hold,              In all the tales of heavenly pleasure          By poets sung or by prophets told;              For in the joy of your shy, sweet kisses,          Your pulsing touch and your languid sigh              I am filled and thrilled with better blisses          Than ever were claimed for souls on high.              And now I have faith in all the stories          Told of the beauties of unseen lands;              Of royal splendors and marvellous glories          Of the golden city not made with hands              For the silken beauty of falling tresses,          Of lips all dewy and cheeks aglow,              With - what the mind in a half trance guesses          Of the twin perfection of drifts of snow;              Of limbs like marble, of thigh and shoulder          Carved like a statue in high relief -              These, as the eyes and the thoughts grow bolder,          Leave no room for an unbelief.              So my lady, my queen most royal,          My skepticism has passed away;              If you are true to me, true and loyal,          I will believe till the Judgment-day.