 | Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) |  |
II.
There were two men, each greatly loathing each,
Because of battling interests and the greed
For goals of rule that either strained to reach,
And rivalry of differing aim and deed.
And both won much, though either failed to fall,
And still each loathed his fellow till the last;
Nor did their great hates pass away at all
Till either's power to loathe or love was past.
Because of battling interests and the greed
272
And rivalry of differing aim and deed.
And both won much, though either failed to fall,
And still each loathed his fellow till the last;
Nor did their great hates pass away at all
Till either's power to loathe or love was past.
And after? .. Why, their tombs' old sculptured pride
Rise in the regal abbey, side by side,
Where friends devoutly laid them when they died.
Rise in the regal abbey, side by side,
Where friends devoutly laid them when they died.
There was a man that loved a woman well,
Even loved with so all-dominant a fire
That only thus could he make language tell
The depth and breadth and height of his desire:
“When we are dead, pray Heaven that either lies
In graves whose mantling grasses intertwine!
For were we laid apart, my dust would rise
And die again that it might rest by thine!”
Even loved with so all-dominant a fire
That only thus could he make language tell
The depth and breadth and height of his desire:
“When we are dead, pray Heaven that either lies
In graves whose mantling grasses intertwine!
For were we laid apart, my dust would rise
And die again that it might rest by thine!”
And after? .. Why, the woman sleeps to-day,
Dreamless and easeful, under graveyard clay.
Where sleeps her love? The immense sea does not say!
Dreamless and easeful, under graveyard clay.
Where sleeps her love? The immense sea does not say!
| Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) | |