| |
| BEFORE I trust my fate to thee, | |
| Or place my hand in thine, | |
| Before I let thy future give | |
| Color and form to mine, | |
| Before I peril all for thee, question thy soul to-night for me. | 5 |
| |
| I break all slighter bonds, nor feel | |
| A shadow of regret: | |
| Is there one link within the Past | |
| That holds thy spirit yet? | |
| Or is thy faith as clear and free as that which I can pledge to thee? | 10 |
| |
| Does there within thy dimmest dreams | |
| A possible future shine, | |
| Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe, | |
| Untouch’d, unshar’d by mine? | |
| If so, at any pain or cost, O, tell me before all is lost. | 15 |
| |
| Look deeper still. If thou canst feel, | |
| Within thy inmost soul, | |
| That thou hast kept a portion back, | |
| While I have stak’d the whole; | |
| Let no false pity spare the blow, but in true mercy tell me so. | 20 |
| |
| Is there within thy heart a need | |
| That mine cannot fulfil? | |
| One chord that any other hand | |
| Could better wake or still? | |
| Speak now—lest at some future day my whole life wither and decay. | 25 |
| |
| Lives there within thy nature hid | |
| The demon-spirit Change, | |
| Shedding a passing glory still | |
| On all things new and strange? | |
| It may not be thy fault alone—but shield my heart against thy own. | 30 |
| |
| Couldst thou withdraw thy hand one day | |
| And answer to my claim, | |
| That Fate, and that to-day’s mistake— | |
| Not thou—had been to blame? | |
| Some soothe their conscience thus; but thou wilt surely warn and save me now. | 35 |
| |
| Nay, answer not,—I dare not hear, | |
| The words would come too late; | |
| Yet I would spare thee all remorse, | |
| So, comfort thee, my fate— | |
| Whatever on my heart may fall—remember, I would risk it all! | 40 |
| |
