Haunted

The rabbit in his burrow keeps      No guarded watch, in peace he sleeps;      The wolf that howls in challenging night      Cowers to her lair at morning light;      The simplest bird entwines a nest      Where she may lean her lovely breast,      Couched in the silence of the bough.      But thou, O man, what rest hast thou?      Thy emptiest solitude can bring      Only a subtler questioning      In thy divided heart. Thy bed      Recalls at dawn what midnight said.      Seek how thou wilt to feign content,      Thy flaming ardour's quickly spent;      Soon thy last company is gone,      And leaves thee - with thyself - alone.      Pomp and great friends may hem thee round,      A thousand busy tasks be found;      Earth's thronging beauties may beguile      Thy longing lovesick heart awhile;      And pride, like clouds of sunset, spread      A changing glory round thy head;      But fade will all; and thou must come,      Hating thy journey, homeless, home.      Rave how thou wilt; unmoved, remote,      That inward presence slumbers not,      Frets out each secret from thy breast,      Gives thee no rally, pause, nor rest,      Scans close thy very thoughts, lest they      Should sap his patient power away,      Answers thy wrath with peace, thy cry      With tenderest taciturnity.