University of Virginia Library


256

“THE ENDING OF THE DAY”

If at the ending of the day we meet
The very lips of love, and find them sweet:
When death draws near
If then we hear
The unknown song no mortal may repeat:
If after all the loves of earth are cold
Love tenderer then than poet ever told
Around us flow,
That we may know
Fruition of the dream we dreamed of old:
If at the setting of the mortal sun
Sunrise eternal for us has begun:
If we may reach
The joys past speech
Alone by agony past language won:

257

If even the kiss of God that no man knows
Descends, a fragrance stranger than the rose,
On lips that seem
Not in a dream
To win what love conceals till love bestows:
If this be so, then who shall dare to say
That even a single pang were best away?
If suffering lead
To this indeed
Then death is life and starless night is day.