 | Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) |  |
18
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON.
She turns her great grave eyes toward mine, while I stroke her soft hair's gold;
We watch the moon through the window shine; she is only eight years old.
“Is it true,” she asks, with guileless mien, and with voice in tender tune,
“That nobody ever yet has seen the other side of the moon?”
We watch the moon through the window shine; she is only eight years old.
“Is it true,” she asks, with guileless mien, and with voice in tender tune,
“That nobody ever yet has seen the other side of the moon?”
I smile at her question, answering “yes;” and then, by a strange thought stirred,
I murmur, half in forgetfulness that she listens to every word:
“There are treasures on earth so rich and fair that they cannot stay with us here,
And the other side of the moon is where they go when they disappear!
I murmur, half in forgetfulness that she listens to every word:
“There are treasures on earth so rich and fair that they cannot stay with us here,
And the other side of the moon is where they go when they disappear!
“There are hopes that the spirit hardly names, and songs that it mutely sings,
There are good resolves and exalted aims, there are longings for nobler things;
There are sounds and visions that haunt our lot, ere they vanish, or seem to die,
And the other side of the moon (why not?) is the far bourne where they fly!
There are good resolves and exalted aims, there are longings for nobler things;
19
And the other side of the moon (why not?) is the far bourne where they fly!
“We can fancy that realm were passing sweet and of strangely precious worth,
If its distant reaches enshrined complete the incompleteness of earth!
Nay, if there we found, like a living dream, what here we but mourn and miss,
Oh, the other side of the moon would beam with a glory unknown in this!”
If its distant reaches enshrined complete the incompleteness of earth!
Nay, if there we found, like a living dream, what here we but mourn and miss,
Oh, the other side of the moon would beam with a glory unknown in this!”
“Are you talking of heaven?” she whispers now, while she nestles against my knees,
And I say, as I kiss her white wide brow, “You may call it so, if you please;
For if any such wondrous land may be, and we journey there, late or soon,
Then from heaven, I am sure, we shall gaze and see .. the other side of the moon!”
And I say, as I kiss her white wide brow, “You may call it so, if you please;
For if any such wondrous land may be, and we journey there, late or soon,
Then from heaven, I am sure, we shall gaze and see .. the other side of the moon!”
| Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) | |