VIII

Sometimes I think that we have lived before,

And found sweet interest down the centuries

In all life's little things that charm and please;

That we have toiled together at the oar

In one of Caesar's galleys; that we bore

One burden on our backs and bowed the knees

Of servitude to Charlemagne; and these

Have taught us how to love for evermore.

Dear Comrade, we have often changed our state;

We have been slaves and masters, serfs and kings;

You have been man, I woman, wont to wait

Upon my lover's word; rememberings

Are in the mystic rapture that we feel

Whenever at your feet a while I kneel.