University of Virginia Library


171

SONNET XI
ONE NIGHT WITH THEE

Oh for one night with thee! Shall not the hours
Bring round revenge at last, and angry Fate
Be slain by white hands nigh Love's golden gate?
Shall we not plunge amid the night's dim bowers?
Wilt thou not crown me with unheard-of flowers?—
Lo! the night waxes onward: it grows late:
Rise thou; then falter not, nor turn nor wait:—
The freedom of the trackless dark is ours.
Oh for one night with thee!—one awful night
Amid the stillness of eternity:
Once, if but once, to know supreme delight,
Whatever else beyond the dawn may be:
As starlit heaven grows barer and less bright
To win all heaven's lost jewels, winning thee!