BEAUTIFUL child that launchest out on the great sea of life, Soon I, thy Mother, must leave thee: soon the dark shall close me in, and leave thee alone in the bright sunshine. And thy lovers shall come and make love to thee: they shall lay their fortunes at thy feet, and their strength and the glory of their manhood; They shall desire thee, for thou art beautiful as the silver sickle moon arising in heaven before the dawn. Yet when they come forget not me, O my child: be not deceived by their words; For none ever again shall love thee as I love thee, none ever again shall know, as I know, thy hidden thoughts—none shall read the light that plays upon thy face as I can read it. These shall love thee for themselves: they shall seek thee in order to possess thee; but I have given all that I have to thee. All the years that we have been together since than first pressed thy tiny palm upon my breast to look into my face, until now; I have given myself to thee. Before thy feet, or ever thou couldst walk, my love has walked, my thoughts have circled thee, my desire has made thee very beautiful. If I might pray, I pray that when thou hast known the love of man Thou, too, may'st become a mother, and so even through travail and suffering may'st know the greater love. Then far away down the years thou shalt remember me; As when one ascends a mountain the opposite mountain lifts itself higher and higher, so as thou goest farther from me I will grow upon thee clearer and closer even than now. |