Beyond The Moon

By Vachel Lindsay

[Written to the Most Beautiful Woman in the World]

M< Sweetheart is the TRUTH BEYOND THE MOON,

And never have I been in love with Woman,

Always aspiring to be set in tune

With one who is invisible, inhuman.

O laughing girl, cold TRUTH has stepped between,

Spoiling the fevers of your virgin face:

Making your shining eyes but lead and clay,

Mocking your brilliant brain and lady's grace.

TRUTH haunted me the day I wooed and lost,

The day I wooed and won, or wooed in play:

Tho' you were Juliet or Rosalind,

Thus shall it be, forever and a day.

I doubt my vows, tho' sworn on my own blood,

Tho' I draw toward you weeping, soul to soul,

I have a lonely goal beyond the moon;

Ay, beyond Heaven and Hell, I have a goal!