University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

collapse sectionI. 
expand section 
collapse section 
collapse section 
 I. 
 II. 
  
expand section 
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
expand section 
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionVIII. 
expand sectionIX. 
expand sectionX. 
expand sectionXI. 


143

XLVI. “THEE I CANNOT ESCAPE”

Thee I cannot escape.—The whole great world remindeth
My soul of thee. Whate'er of joy my spirit findeth
It longs with thee to share:
The glory of the moors alight with purple heather;
The splendour of the calm untroubled summer weather;
The low soft laughter of the moonlit air.
When I behold the tides for ever surging, breaking,
Against the granite walls that guard with base unshaking
The wind-swept Cornish shore,
I long for thee to see with me the vast Atlantic
As the great waves with leap delirious and gigantic
Charge upward,—and foam backward evermore.

144

When I see white clear walls, and Southern hills and towers,
I long for thee to thread the Southern vine-tressed bowers,
Sweetheart, along with me:
And so it comes to pass that I escape thee never;
That every star of night bids me love on for ever,
And every fern and flower suggest but thee.