Love-songs, at Once Tender and Informative XXIII

Without you, love, I must contend With longing that has never end ; With loneliness, against whose bars The sun is shattered and the stars; With silence deeper than the sea. That drowns the very thoughts of me.

With you, my sweet, I must endure The cross of all who hold unsure The precious boon ; must ever hear The insistent monotone of Fear; Must ever toward the zenith ache. Abasing self, for your dear sake.

In those serene and potent eyes Is there no kindly compromise? Will they not grant me this release: To see their light and still have peace. And let the deeps behind them be For sturdier fish the fatal sea?