| |
I O THORN tree, shake thy blossoms upon the wind; | |
| Cover with leaves thy deep snow-laden boughs | |
| That swiftly may sweet crimson berries ripen. | |
| |
| My love has sworn when leaves and blossoms are faded, | |
| And thy bare branches are held blood-red to the skies, | 5 |
| He will kiss grief and longing away from my heart. | |
| |
II The silver wings of the sea-birds flash and go; | |
| The sea trembles unveiling itself to the day. | |
| Why comest thou not? Why must I wait for thee? | |
| |
| Is love so gentle to thee that thou sleepest unwaking? | 10 |
| Is thy breath unhastened, thy brow dry and untortured? | |
| Dost thou rather seek the me in dreams than here on my breast? | |
| |
| The beating of my heart has nightlong shaken my body— | |
| So great an anguish is my longing that sight fails; | |
| My limbs shudder with the bitterness of my desire. | 15 |
| If thou hastenest not death were easier to me than this. | |
| |
III Perchance I am truly dead at last, beloved, | |
| And my body is lying still in some quiet place | |
| And thou art weeping for me. | |
| But I am one of the driven tormented dead | 20 |
| Whom the cold darkness sunders for ever from rest, | |
| And this that consumes my heart is the pain of hell. | |
| |
IV I remember thee, O beloved, as one dead remembers the living. | |
| Faintly the sound of thy voice and thy laughter lingers about me, | |
| Yet ever thy face is a star burning unquenched through my darkness. | 25 |
| |
| Too far I have left thee behind me to know if love be forgotten, | |
| |
| For weeping and laughter and love have mingled their voices and ceased. | |
| Only I hear the sound of great seas long since overpassed me. | |
| |
| Lo, I would sleep, beloved, lulled by uttermost silence; | |
| Sleep with even thy face covered away and forgotten | 30 |
| Lost in a sleep unbroken by dreams or love or awakening. | |
| |
