O LOVE! -- that love which comes so stealthily, And takes us up, and twists us as it will -- What fever'd hours of agony 'twill bring! How oft we wake and cry: "God set me free Of love -- to never love again!" And still We fall, and clutch it by the knees, and cling And press our lips -- and so, once more are glad! And if it go, or if it never come, Through what a grieving wilderness of pain We travel on! In prisons stripped of light We blindly grope, and wander without home. The friendless winds that sweep across the plain -- The beggars meeting us at silent night -- Than we, are not more desolate and sad! |