I. LOVE once kiss'd me, Unfolded his wings, and fled. Hath friendship miss'd me ? Is faith in all friendship dead ? If a spell could summon These phantoms that come and go, Of men and women, Their very selves to show, I might find (alas me!) My seeking both night and day. But I pass them, they pass me, And each on a lonely way. II. Soul, art thou friendless, A loser, sorrowful, weak ? Life is not endless, Death is not far to seek. Thou sailest ever, Each moment, if sad or kind, Down the great river; It opens, it closes behind; Far back thou see-est The mountain- tops' faint azure; Below, as thou flee-est, The ripple, the shadow's erasure. III. Why dost thou, weeping, Stretch forth thine arms in vain ? It breaks thy sleeping; O drop into trance again. In dreams thou may'st go where Child's Island is flowery grass'd, Deep-skied, it is nowhere Save in the Land of the Past. Time is dying, The World too; forget their moan; The sad wind sighing Let murmur, this alone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING IMMORTALITY [OR, VERSE] by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844) SHADOWS by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. A WOMAN'S SONNETS: 12 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT ASCENSION OF A CITY FOG by FRANCES COFFIN BOAZ |