Regrets

As, when the seaward ebbing tide doth pour         Out by the low sand spaces,     The parting waves slip back to clasp the shore         With lingering embraces,-     So in the tide of life that carries me         From where thy true heart dwells,     Waves of my thoughts and memories turn to thee         With lessening farewells;     Waving of hands; dreams, when the day forgets;         A care half lost in cares;     The saddest of my verses; dim regrets;         Thy name among my prayers.     I would the day might come, so waited for,         So patiently besought,     When I, returning, should fill up once more         Thy desolated thought;     And fill thy loneliness that lies apart         In still, persistent pain.     Shall I content thee, O thou broken heart,         As the tide comes again,     And brims the little sea-shore lakes, and sets         Seaweeds afloat, and fills     The silent pools, rivers and rivulets         Among the inland hills?