So swift to bloom, so soon to pass, Love's flower!
The sea that brought him, took him back again —
Ah, well, so is the world and so are men!
But he was happy with me for an hour,
Or almost happy, here within my bower!
He had his silences, his moments when
A strange abstraction took him . . . I knew then
That he remembered . . . slipped beyond my power!
I brought him strange, bright blossoms that were grown
In emerald gardens, underneath the sea,
We rode white horses, far beyond the shore —
I would not let him sit and think alone!
One day he held me long and tenderly . . .
I knew, I knew that he would come no more!