Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac :: :: University of Virginia Library

This is the day whereon her husband died.
After a life of blameless honour, thus
The fifty years of bridegroom and of bride
Seem ended; and they part, incredulous
That this can be a parting or an end.
Nay, it is not an end. There is a place
Beyond the reach of thought, where they will blend
Once more, those two; not now in Time or Space,
But in some Æon where the wedlock, pure
And true and lasting, of such faithful hearts
Shall be renew'd and quicken'd, and endure
In absolute fruition. He departs,
And leaves her—inconsolable? Not so:
She mourns, indeed, yet has fit strength to hear

101

The message of her sorrow, and to know
That Man and Wife, united thus and dear,
Are one for ever. God Himself is known
Threefold—and these are twofold: spirits twain
Each melting into each, till both have grown
One soul, one essence; meet to entertain
Glimpses of Godhead, and alert to move
In the full circle of completed Love.