THE HAPPY NIGHT

By John Collings Squire

I have loved to-night; from love's last bordering steep

I have fallen at last with joy and forgotten the shore;

I have known my love to-night as never before,

I have flung myself in the deep, and drawn from the deep,

And kissed her lightly, and left my beloved to sleep.

And now I sit in the night and my heart is still:

Strong and secure; there is nothing that's left to will,

There is nothing to win but only a thing to keep.

And I look to-night, completed and not afraid,

Into the windy dark where shines no light;

And care not at all though the darkness never should fade,

Nor fear that death should suddenly come to-night.

Knowing my last would be surely my bravest breath,

I am happy to-night: I have laughed to-night at death.