White Stains

22 A FRAGMENT Th’ Eternity of an immortal self That is, and shall be while the stars endure, Or while a God of Love is pitiful Of all men’s sorrows, and most happy in Their joys— She. Ah ! joys are fleeting !— He. But our love Is anchored in the portals of the dawn Where heaven begins. She. And heaven begins with us This day. Behold the flowers, whose kindly gaze Of modest love is on us as we stand, And clasp fond hands before high Heaven to swear Truth an eternal bond, no parchment scroll Of perishable matter ill devised And scored upon with perishable ink, But in our pulses’ quick delight to live From day to day renewed, as if a fount Of God’s mysterious stream, that here a man May wet his ankle, and again immerse Unto his knees, and yet again assay To cross its silver depth and find himself Swimming in crystal coldness on a sea Broad as God’s mercy and as deep as Love.