Classic Poem

Life knows no dead so beautiful
As is the white cold coffin'd past;
This I may love nor be beiray'd:
The dead are faithful to the last.
I am not spouseless — I have wed
A memory — a life that's dead.

Farewell! for here the ways at last
Divide — diverge, like delta'd Nile,
Which after desert dangers pass'd
Of many and many a thousand mile,
As constant as a column stone,
Seeks out the sea, divorced — alone.

And you and I have buried Love,
A red seal on the coffin's lid;
The clerk below, the court above,
Pronounce it dead: the corpse is hid
And I who never cross'd your will
Consent ... that you may have it still.

Farewell! a sad word easy said
And easy sung, I think, by some.
I clutch'd my hands, I turn'd my head
In my endeavor and was dumb;
And when I should have said, Farewell,
I only murmur'd, " This is hell. "

What recks it now, whose was the blame?
But call it mine; for better used
Am I to wrong and cold disdain,
Can better bear to be accused
Of all that wears the shape of shame,
Than have you bear one touch of blame.

I set my face for power and place,
My soul is toned to sullenness,
My heart holds not one sign nor trace
Of love, or trust, or tenderness.
But you — your years of happiness
God knows I would not make them less.

And you will come some summer eve,
When wheels the white moon on her track,
And hear the plaintive night-bird grieve,
And heed the crickets clad in black;
Alone — not far — a little spell,
And say, " Well, yes, he loved me well " :

And sigh, " Well, yes, I mind me now,
None were so bravely true as he;
And yet his love was tame somehow,
It was so truly true to me;
I wish'd his patient love had less
Of worship and of tenderness:

" I wish it still, for thus alone
There comes a keen reproach or pain,
A feeling I dislike to own;
Half yearnings for his voice again,
Half longing for his earnest gaze,
To know him mine always — always. "
. . . . . . . .

I make no murmur; steady, calm,
Sphinx-like I gaze on days ahead.
No wooing word, no pressing palm,
No sealing love with lips seal-red,
No waiting for some dusk or dawn,
No sacred hour ... all are gone.

I go alone, no little hands
To lead me from forbidden ways,
No little voice in other lands
To cheer through all the weary days,
Yet these are yours, and that to me
Is much indeed. . . . . So let it be ...
A last look from my mountain wall. . . .
I watch the red sun wed the sea
Beside your home ... the tides will fall
And rise, but nevermore shall we
Stand hand in hand and watch them flow,
As we once stood. . . . Christ! this is so!

But, when the stately sea comes in
With measured tread and mouth afoam,
My darling cries above the din,
And asks, " Has father yet come home? "
Then look into the peaceful sky,
And answer, gently, " By and by. "
. . . . . . . . . .

One deep spring in a desert sand,
One moss'd and mystic pyramid,
A lonely palm on either hand,
A fountain in a forest hid,
Are all my life has realized
Of all I cherish'd, all I prized:

Of all I dream'd in early youth
Of love by streams and love-lit ways,
While my heart held its type of truth
Through all the tropic golden days,
And I the oak, and you the vine,
Clung palm in palm through cloud or shine.

Some time when clouds hang overhead,
(What weary skies without one cloud!)
You may muse on this love that's dead,
Muse calm when not so cold or proud,
And say, " At last it comes to me,
That none was ever true as he. "

My sin was that I loved too much —
But I enlisted for the war,
Till we the deep-sea shore should touch,
Beyond Atlanta — near or far —
And truer soldier never yet
Bore shining sword or bayonet.

I did not blame you — do not blame.
The stormy elements of soul
That I did scorn to tone or tame,
Or bind down unto dull control
In full fierce youth, they are all yours,
With all their folly and their force.

God keep you pure, oh, very pure,
God give you grace to dare and do;
God give you courage to endure
The all He may demand of you, —
Keep time-frosts from your raven hair,
And your young heart without a care.

I make no murmur nor complain;
Above me are the stars and blue
Alluring far to grand refrain;
Before, the beautiful and true,
To love or hate, to win or lose;
Lo! I will now arise, and choose.

But should you sometime read a sign,
In isles of song beyond the brine,
Then you will think a time, and you
Will turn and say, " He once was mine,
Was all my own; his smiles, his tears
Were mine — were mine for years and years. "