University of Virginia Library


202

II. LOVE

But yet within life's ocean there are isles
Where for calm sunlit seasons thou mayest be
Safe from the cold arms of the sullen sea,
Press arms divine, and meet diviner smiles.
White hands shall beckon through dim forest-aisles,
And yet a fragrance not of flower or tree
Shall lure thee forth to roam eternally:
The known joy palls, the unknown joy beguiles.
In some fair island under sapphire skies
A woman waits, with queenly lips unkissed
And heart that throbs with unacknowledged flame.
That island still is wrapped in robes of mist:
No dream discloses yet the heavenly eyes;
Time whispers not as yet the sovereign name.
Oct. 21, 1894.