LOVE IN EXTREMIS

By Cale Young Rice

I care not what they say who hold

We should speak but of life and joy;

I have met death in one I love,

Death lusting to destroy.

And I have fought him vein by vein,

Loosened his cold and creeping clutch,

Driven him from her — twice and thrice —

With might too much.

Yet with too little! for I know

That she at last will lie there still.

Then all my fire of love shall fail

To thaw that chill;

For it will freeze light from her eyes,

Pulse from her breast and from her soul

Me, whom no opiate of peace

Can e'er console.

None:... till I follow her, in time,

And find her, though all Dust deny!

With that to be I'll front the day,

And fronting die.