ON YOUR PROTECTIVE WING

Thy thought has drawn in the sand 

the omnipotent trace of thy swan-feet.

 A coral star thy fair eye bore!

 In a desert of sand, we two,

 half shy, clasped each other's hand,

 And waited the patient intimacy,

 Only to greet, and silently,

 to echo the all-pervading emotion: 

the heart-title of our immortality! 

The sea-foams, licking the shapeless rocks,

 embrace them gracefully,

 stretching; dreams thought forgotten,

 dreams past, come to life again,

 and then vanish again.

 My feet shyly trace your footsteps,

 and the surface holds

 shapes of fine-grained sand. 

But what else could I have done here,

 when you were long gone,

 and I thought of you only through your brain waves?

 More than all was said by thy ever-honour'd,

 chattering mouth, 

That condemned and chastised

 me in the day of Doom,

 Thou canst not willfully find an

 antidote To honest Truth,

 once made a prisoner! 

I have been in all the changeable matter:

 in thy joy and sorrow, 

among the waterfalls of thy eyes' tears!

 And yet in thy excessive

 levity thou hast not esteemed me! 

Invisible, I am still watching your priceless life,

 and still I cannot know it myself:

 Why must I, like an ancient protector,

 cower after thee?

If I had committed a sin against thee,

 thou shouldst have felt it long ago:

 for thy heart beat and beat like a madman's!

 - We have become each other's dearest

 and most grievous poisons:

 Thou didst tempt me with the sweetness of chocolate,

 and I wore the chains of my embracing

 compliments proudly,

 while thou didst give me a chance!