HOW can I go into the dark, Away from your clasping hand, Set sail on a shadowy bark For the shore of an unknown land? Your eyes look love into mine; Your lips are warm on my mouth; I drink your breath like a wine Aglow with the sun of the South. You have made this world so dear! How can I go forth alone In the bark that phantoms steer To a port afar and unknown? The desperate mob of the dead, Will they hustle me to and fro, Or leave me alone to tread The path of my infinite woe? Shall I cry, in terror and pain, For a death that I cannot die, And pray with a longing vain To the gods that mock my cry? Oh, hold me closer, my dear! Strong is your clasp, -- ay, strong, -- But stronger the touch that I fear, And the darkness to come is long. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LWONESOMENESS by WILLIAM BARNES ON THE PROSPECT OF PLANTING ARTS AND LEARNING IN AMERICA by GEORGE BERKELEY DOROTHY'S DOWER by PHOEBE CARY FAREWELL TO LOVE by JOHN DONNE SONNET ON SITTING DOWN TO READ KING LEAR ONCE AGAIN by JOHN KEATS SACRIFICE by GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL THE INDIAN'S WELCOME TO THE PILGRIM FATHERS by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY |