That wave of love, that sole exultant splendour
Throned o’er all being, supreme,
A single-shining beam
Burning with love, unutterably tender.
Ah! the calm wave retires.
Down all the fearful fires
Go thundering to darkness, so dissever
Their being from pure being, that the river
Of love is waveless now, and is pure love for
ever.
Then, mightier than all birth of stars or suns,
Breaks the vast flood and trembles in its tide.
Serene and splendid shine the mystic ones,
Exult, appal, reiterate, abide.
Timid and fleet the earth
Comes rushing back to birth,
Brighter and greener, radiant with gold
Of a diviner sun,
An exaltation
Of life to life, of light to light untold.
I? I remain, and see
Across eternity
My lover’s face, and gaze, and know the worth
Of love’s life to the glowing earth,
The kiss that wakes all life unto a better birth.
So the swoon broke. I saw the face
(Shining with Love's reverberate grace)
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