 | Le Cahier Jaune |  |
38
DEMETRIUS.
I think that you love me, dear:
Cannot I love you too?
For a week, a month, a year?
Will that be enough for you?
Cannot I love you too?
For a week, a month, a year?
Will that be enough for you?
Why yes, I could yield you this,
I could whisper, gaze and pray,
I could clasp your hand and kiss,
And that is enough, you say.
I could whisper, gaze and pray,
I could clasp your hand and kiss,
And that is enough, you say.
Your thirst is so deep, so deep,
You pant for the cooling wave;
Yet the treacherous ripples creep
And crawl in their moving grave.
You pant for the cooling wave;
Yet the treacherous ripples creep
And crawl in their moving grave.
Better to stand on the brink,
Better to faint for breath,
Than slowly to dream and sink
In the delicate hands of death.
Better to faint for breath,
Than slowly to dream and sink
In the delicate hands of death.
I have learned in a harder school,
Have dallied with scorn and shame
Where the wise man envies the fool,
And the nameless dies for a name.
Have dallied with scorn and shame
Where the wise man envies the fool,
And the nameless dies for a name.
39
I am sad enough to be wise,
I am strong enough to be hard,
Let me look but once in your eyes,
And see what I might have marred.
I am strong enough to be hard,
Let me look but once in your eyes,
And see what I might have marred.
Purity, hope and light
Are stronger than you and I:—
So we will be wise to-night;—
Remember, and say goodbye.
Are stronger than you and I:—
So we will be wise to-night;—
Remember, and say goodbye.
Eton, 1892.
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