Because
It is not because your heart is mine - mine only -
Mine alone,
It is not because you choose me weak and lonely
For your own;
Not because the earth is fairer, and the skies
Spread above you
Are more radiant for the shining of your eyes -
That I love you!
It is not because the world's perplexed meaning
Grows more clear;
And the parapets of heaven, with angels leaning,
Seem more near;
And Nature sings of praise with all her voices
Since yours spoke,
Since within my silent heart, that now rejoices
Love awoke!
Nay, not even because your hand holds heart and life,
At your will
Soothing, hushing all its discord, making strife
Calm and still;
Teaching Trust to fold her wings, nor ever roam
From her nest;
Teaching Love that her securest, safest home
Must be rest.
But because this human Love, though true and sweet -
Yours and mine -
Has been sent by Love more tender, more complete,
More divine,
That it leads our hearts to rest at last in heaven,
Far above you;
Do I take you as a gift that God has given -
And I love you!
A Woman's Question
Before I trust my fate to thee,
Or place my hand in thine,
Before I let thy future give
Color and form to mine,
Before I peril all for thee,
Question thy soul tonight for me.
I break all slighter bonds, nor feel
A shadow of regret:
Is there one link within the past
That holds thy spirit yet?
Or is thy faith as clear and free
As that which I can pledge to thee?
Does there within thy dimmest dreams
A possible future shine,
Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe,
Untouched, unshared by mine?
If so, at any pain or cost,
O, tell me before all is lost!
Look deeper still: if thou canst feel
Within thy inmost soul,
That thou hast kept a portion back,
While I have staked the whole,
Let no false pity spare the blow,
But in true mercy tell me so.
Is there within thy heart a need
That mine cannot fulfill?
One chord that any other hand
Could better wake or still?
Speak now, lest at some future day
My whole life wither and decay.
Lives there within thy nature hid
The demon-spirit, change,,
Shredding a passing glory still
On all things new and strange?
It may not be thy fault alone -
But shield my heart against thine own.
Couldst thou withdraw thy hand one day
And answer to my claim,
That fate, and that today's mistake -
Not though - had been to blame?
Some soothe their conscience thus: but thou
Wilt surely warn and save me now.
Nay, answer not - I dare not hear,
The words would come too late;
Yet I would spare thee all remorse,
So comfort thee, my fate:
Whatever on my heart may fall,
Remember, I would risk it all!
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