II

I, living love and laughter, have forgot

The way the heart has uttered melody.

As sobbing, plaintive cadence of the sea

A poet's soul should rest, remembering not

The inland paths of green, the flowers, the spot

Where fairies ring. In hermit ecstasy

Music is born, and gay or wofully

Lovers of Poesy share her lonely lot.

For you and me, Beloved, crowned with Spring,

Catching Love's flowers from off the lap of Time,

What are the songs my voice has scorned to sing?

Ghostly they hover round my heart-wise lips;

Into a kiss I fold my rose of Rhyme,

Laid like a martyr on your finger-tips.