University of Virginia Library


165

SONNET XVII
LOVE THAT ENDURES

Ye poets, think ye that the world will still
Cherish your memory when ye come to die?
Yes, for a little time,—with tear and sigh
Bending above you: for an hour she will.
Then will new song the woods and valleys fill
And new sunrises flush the fickle sky!
Again will passion's golden moments fly,
As shadows race along the wind-swept hill.
Will even the greatest live?—Yes, for awhile.
But ah! the world has endless youth in store
And unborn Shakespeares, Dantes, wait to pour
Song at her feet, and win her fairy smile.
Yet, Love that nought could conquer nor defile
Has its own godhead, safe for evermore.