III 
 
Is love indeed eternal ?  Otherwise 
Is evolution an eternal plan ? 
Must I move upward in the stream of Man, 
God-ward :  my life as Christ to sacrifice, 
As Buddha to repress : to grow so wise, 
Space, time shall lie within my finger-span ? 
I know not which I wish : either I can ; 
Not both, unless all meditation lies. 
 
I am not sure : if love as great as ours 
May not be God to part of us at least, 
Leaving the Rest to find its heights and powers 
In other spheres ; that, night’s enamoured priest ; 
This, on the lake the dewy lotus-flowers 
That lift their jewelled hearts toward the East. 
 
94