SHADOWS

Shadows! the only shadows that I know

Are happy shadows of the light of you,

The radiance immortal shining through

Your sea-deep eyes up from the soul below;

Your shadow, like a rose's, on the grass

Where your feet pass.

The shadow of the dimple in your chin,

The shadow of the lashes of your eyes,

As on your cheek, soft as a moth, it lies;

And, as a church, I softly enter in

The solemn twilight of your mighty hair,

Down falling there.

These are Love's shadows, Love knows none but these:

Shadows that are the very soul of light,

As morning and the morning blossom bright,

Or jewelled shadows of moon-haunted seas;

The darkest shadows in this world of ours

Are made of flowers.