XVI.
FATALISM.
1
The flower must imbibe the dews
Whenever the bright dews bead it;
To flow the stream cannot refuse
Whilst its springs with plenty feed it:
2
The crystal lakes must reflect
The clouds and the planets pale;
Trees must bend and their pride be wreck'd
In the breath of the mighty gale:
3
Air hath no power to be free
Of the cloud and the wind and the lightning,
Which it draws from the earth and sea
In the hours of its purest brightning:
4
Earth hath no self-arm'd defence
That can guard it from heat, frost and storm,
And must quail in the influence
Sun-suck'd from its own heart warm:
5
And thy heart must shed into mine
Its joy and its grief together;
And my soul sink as deeply in thine
As the stars lie engulf'd in the ether.
6
For woe or for weal let it be,
For evil or good, life or death—
Love to us is as much a destiny
As to a babe is its breath!
