| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | To Robert Louis Stevenson | | By Robert Burns Wilson (1850–1916) |
| | | BECAUSE the way is long, and we may never | |
| Meet face to face this side the shadowed land; | |
| Because—a thousand things!—because the hand | |
| May seek in friendly, but in vain, endeavor | |
| Some dreamed-of clasp; because, though seas may sever | 5 |
| This kindred-seeking dust, there is no strand | |
| Too far for loving thoughts—spread wave or sand, | |
| Forevermore, thought scorneth them forever:— | |
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| Therefore lest fate hold by her barrier still, | |
| No kindlier proving, hence, than in the past— | 10 |
| Lest on that unknown bourn there be no meeting,— | |
| For thee, upon the tide of good and ill | |
| Which floods with ceaseless flow this world, I cast | |
| This waif: for thee, brave heart, my soul’s best greeting. | | | | |
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