The poems of Owen Meredith (Honble Robert Lytton.) Selected and revised by the author. Copyright edition. In two volumes |
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 | The poems of Owen Meredith (Honble Robert Lytton.) |  |
42
TO IRENE.
As, in lone faërylands, 'twixt coral shelfAnd beryl shaft, to deck the moonlit cave
Where haply dwells some beautiful Queen-Elf,
Laden with light and music, a spent wave
Strews its unvalued sea-wealth (pearl and gem
Sent up in homage from the Deep, her slave!)
Then sinks back, sighing, into the salt sea;
So, from my life's love-laden deeps, to thee
I pour these poems. Do not thou contemn
Gifts offer'd to thee only. Let them have
All they were born for,—not the more or less
Of aught that grudging huxters ever gave
For such sea-treasures with a greedy guess
At this or that pearl's price in weigh'd-out pelf,
—But place in the imperial diadem
Of thine own fay-born beauty's queenliness.
More worth is in them than mere words express.
Such pearl-buds, torn from buried branch and stem
Of life's deep-hidden growths, attest love's stress.
Look down, and see in my sad silent self,
Beneath all words, where love lies fathomless;
And so, dear love, for love's sake value them.
Love's words are weak, but not love's silences.
| The poems of Owen Meredith (Honble Robert Lytton.) | |