"And though the curse of saints and men Be for the deed on me,
I would it were to do again,
Since thou wert false to me!
"Thou shouldst have loved or one or none,
Nor she nor I loved twain ;
But we are twain thou hast undone,
And therefore art thou slain.
"And when before my God I stand,
With no base flesh between,
I shall hold up my guilty hand,
And He shall judge it clean!"
He fell across the bridal bed,
Between the tapers pale.
"I, first, shall see our God" he said,
"And I will tell thy tale ;
"And, if God judge thee as I do
Then art thou justified:
I loved thee, and I was not true,
And that was why I died.
"If I might judge thee-thou shouldst be First of the saints on high,
But, ah, I fear God loveth thee
Not half so dear as I!"
It waits till the daylight passes And closes them one by one.
I have asked why it closed at even, And I know what it wished to say: There are stars all night in the heaven, And I am the star of day.
WHEN I am dead, my spirit
Shall wander far and free,
Through realms the dead inherit
Of earth and sky and sea ;
Through morning dawn and gloaming,
By midnight moons at will,
By shores where the waves are foaming,
By seas where the waves are still.
I, following late behind you,
In wingless sleepless flight,
Will wander till I find you,
In sunshine or twilight;
With silent kiss for greeting
On lips and eyes and head,
In that strange after-meeting
Shall love be perfected.
We shall lie in summer breezes
And pass where whirlwinds go,
And the northern blast that freezes
Shall bear us with the snow.
We shall stand above the thunder,
And watch the lightnings hurled
At the misty mountains under,
Of the dim forsaken world.
We shall find our footsteps' traces,
And passing hand in hand
By old familiar places,
We shall laugh, and understand.
THERE never were such radiant noons,
Such roses, such fair weather,
Such nightingales, such mellow moons,
As while we were together!
But now the suns are poor and pale,
The cloudy twilight closes,
The mists have choked the nightingale,
The blight has killed the roses.
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