IX

My Love, I have no fear that thou shouldst die;

Albeit I ask no fairer life than this,

Whose numbering-clock is still thy gentle kiss,

While Time and Peace with hands enlockèd fly;

Yet care I not where in Eternity

We live and love, well knowing that there is

No backward step for those who feel the bliss

Of Faith as their most lofty yearnings high:

Love hath so purified my being's core,

Meseems I scarcely should be startled even,

To find, some morn, that thou hadst gone before;

Since, with thy love, this knowledge too was given,

Which each calm day doth strengthen more and more,

That they who love are but one step from Heaven.