Part 11 (2/2)

Yes, 'twill consent. The day will dawn at last.

Day and the tide approach. They cannot rest.

They must approach. They must by every test Of all men's knowledge, neither slow nor fast, Approach and front us. When the night is past, The morrow's dawn will lead me to my quest.

XVIII.

Then shall I tremble greatly, and be glad, For I shall meet my true-love all alone, And none shall tell me of her dainty zone, And none shall say how sweetly she is clad; But I shall know it. Men may call me mad; But I shall know how bright the world has grown.

XIX.

There is a grammar of the lips and eyes, And I have learnt it. There are tokens sure Of trust in love; and I have found them pure.

Is love the guerdon then? Is love the prize?

It is! It is! We find it in the skies, And here on earth 'tis all that will endure.

XX.

All things for love. All things in some divine And wish'd for way, conspire, as Nature knows, To some great good. Where'er a daisy grows There grows a joy. The forest-trees combine To talk of peace when mortals would repine; And he is false to G.o.d who flouts the rose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Letter X A RETROSPECT]

LETTER X.

A RETROSPECT.

I.

I walk again beside the roaring sea, And once again I harken to the speech Of waves exulting on the madden'd beach.

A sound of awful joy it seems to me, A shuddering sound of G.o.d's eternity,-- Telling of things beyond the sage's reach.

II.

I walk alone. I see the bounding waves Curl'd into foam. I watch them as they leap Like wild sea-horses loosen'd from the deep.

And well I know that they have seen the graves Of s.h.i.+pwreck'd sailors; for Disaster paves The fearful fields where reapers cannot reap.

III.

Out there, in islands where the summer sun Goes down in tempest, there are loathsome things That crawl to sh.o.r.e, and flap unsightly wings.

But here there are no monsters that can run To catch the limbs of bathers; no! not one; And here the wind is harmless when it stings.

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