 | Coffin's Poems with Ajax' Ordeals |  |
Love Regained.
If it is really true that I have grieved thee,
You whom my soul has always loved the best,
Can you not come to me once more forgiving,
And lay your head again upon my breast?
You whom my soul has always loved the best,
Can you not come to me once more forgiving,
And lay your head again upon my breast?
Last night when I in grief and sorrow left you,
And heard the rapid slam of your screen door;
I felt that I toward my doom was going,
And love and joy would be mine nevermore.
And heard the rapid slam of your screen door;
I felt that I toward my doom was going,
And love and joy would be mine nevermore.
The thought that caused my heart to bleed most freely:
I've always tried to go the true love's route,
And then to think my only heart's affection,
Myself and word did disbelieve and doubt.
I've always tried to go the true love's route,
And then to think my only heart's affection,
Myself and word did disbelieve and doubt.
91
And then I felt that all my earthly efforts,
Were wasted—and what we call human life,
Was nothing but a sea of disappointment,
Of myth and pain, of sorrow, grief and strife.
Were wasted—and what we call human life,
Was nothing but a sea of disappointment,
Of myth and pain, of sorrow, grief and strife.
But since I have received from you a letter,
Which says that you have called me back again,
A heavy mist has gathered up before me,
When it is gone I hope there'll be no pain.
Which says that you have called me back again,
A heavy mist has gathered up before me,
When it is gone I hope there'll be no pain.
If I had known how sadly I should grieve you,
If I had thought that it was the last,
There's nothing in the world had made me leave you,
And now, dear heart, I hope the gloom is past.
If I had thought that it was the last,
There's nothing in the world had made me leave you,
And now, dear heart, I hope the gloom is past.
Can you not see how I have missed you, dearest,
How I regret I ever gave you pain;
How heretofore I held you first and nearest,
O love, may I say you are mine again?
How I regret I ever gave you pain;
How heretofore I held you first and nearest,
O love, may I say you are mine again?
I will be kinder to you. I was fretful;
Life had so much that was too hard to bear,
I did not understand how self-forgetful,
Your love had lightened every pain and care.
Life had so much that was too hard to bear,
I did not understand how self-forgetful,
Your love had lightened every pain and care.
92
We grow too sure of those who never give us
A single anxious thought; they are our own:
I did not dream how much I really loved you,
Until I thought my priceless treasure gone.
A single anxious thought; they are our own:
I did not dream how much I really loved you,
Until I thought my priceless treasure gone.
I hate to think of sorrow's painful palace,
I could not stand to think that you were there;
I felt that you were passing, while I love you,
Beyond me, among men that you could bear.
I could not stand to think that you were there;
I felt that you were passing, while I love you,
Beyond me, among men that you could bear.
Yet, if 'tis true that you are still my lover,
Your own pure life no mocking chance has known;
Can you not now sweet consolation give me,
For grief and doubt that have so bitter grown?
Your own pure life no mocking chance has known;
Can you not now sweet consolation give me,
For grief and doubt that have so bitter grown?
Can you not just for my sake once more kiss me;
And we'll forget the words that gave us pain,
They haunt me now,—and that you love and miss me,
May we now call our doubts true love regained?
And we'll forget the words that gave us pain,
They haunt me now,—and that you love and miss me,
May we now call our doubts true love regained?
| Coffin's Poems with Ajax' Ordeals | |