Classic Poem

A brook and a river—
A crystalline brook
From a sybilline nook
And a silvery river—
Flow into a lake,
In which beautiful lake
Are mirrored all bright things above:
The brook is a life,
And the river a life,
And the lake is the Lake of Love.

And out of its bosom
A stream fills and flows
And oceanward goes—
From out the lake's bosom
One stream to the sea;
And this infinite sea,
That ever mysteriously rolls
Against Time's either shore,
It is named Evermore,
And the stream named Espousal of Souls.

So the two, brook and river,
From the Lake of Love run;
Two lives from the Giver
Giving back to Him one.

When two lives, so wed, from single
Into double being flow—
When two souls, so one, commingle,
In their hearts this truth shall grow:
Love is more than starry lusters
Round the honeymoon at rise;
Over all the skies it clusters,
East and west and middle skies.