Teresa and Other Poems By James Rhoades |
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| V. | V
PRESENCE IN ABSENCE
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 | Teresa and Other Poems |  |
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V
PRESENCE IN ABSENCE
If this be true within my heart which saith
That thou, sweet soul, art nearer than before
To my lone spirit, wreck'd amid the roar
Of thy life's waters on the shoals of death;
If I, whose earthlier token was thy breath
Upon my brow, thy footstep at my side,
Now feel thy presence like a circling tide
Within me, and around, above, beneath,—
Why, then, let perishable dust repine!
I am not, sure, the wretchedest of men,
Who hold thee still indissolubly mine:
Though hand with hand no longer intertwine,
Though thou art made to mortal ear and ken
Invisible, unvoiced—what then? what then?
| Teresa and Other Poems | |