IV.
ALONE IN DEATH.
ALONE in Death I think my heart will be; I have no dead to wait me in that land, And if with thee I entered, hand in hand, When her voice called wouldst thou not turn from me, And leave me lonely by that jasper sea— Lonely, forever, on that silent strand, When with entreaty stronger than command Her languorous, low tones invited thee?
And she would find my kisses on thy mouth, And yet forgive thee with a royal grace, Because, when she had gone, too long the drouth, The uncheered waiting her divine embrace— And I, O God! should long to die again, Yet face my immortality of pain.