Endurance

He bent above: so still her breath     What air she breathed he could not say,     Whether in worlds of life or death:     So softly ebbed away, away     The life that had been light to him,     So fled her beauty leaving dim     The emptying chambers of his heart     Thrilled only by the pang and smart,     The dull and throbbing agony     That suffers still, yet knows not why.     Love's immortality so blind     Dreams that all things with it conjoined     Must share with it immortal day:     But not of this--but not of this--     The touch, the eyes, the laugh, the kiss,     Fall from it and it goes its way.     So blind he wept above her clay,     'I did not think that you could die.     Only some veil would cover you     Our loving eyes could still pierce through;     And see through dusky shadows still     Move as of old your wild sweet will,     Impatient every heart to win     And flash its heavenly radiance in.'     Though all the worlds were sunk in rest     The ruddy star within his breast     Would croon its tale of ancient pain,     Its sorrow that would never wane,     Its memory of the days of yore     Moulded in beauty evermore.     Ah, immortality so blind,     To dream all things with it conjoined     Must follow it from star to star     And share with it immortal years.     The memory, yearning, grief, and tears,     Fall from it and it goes afar.     He walked at night along the sands,     And saw the stars dance overhead,     He had no memory of the dead,     But lifted up exultant hands     To hail the future like a boy,     The myriad paths his feet might press.     Unhaunted by old tenderness     He felt an inner secret joy!     A spirit of unfettered will     Through light and darkness moving still     Within the All to find its own,     To be immortal and alone.