THE TRIADS OF DESPAIR 
I3I 
 
The vales of the sea grown shady 
And silver and amber and green 
As thy light passed over and kissed them ? 
Shall thy people lament thee and swoon, 
And we miss thee if thy love missed them, 
Awaiting the moon ? 
 
But thou, who art Light, and above them, 
Who art fire and above them as fire, 
Shall thy sightless eyes not love them 
Who are all of thine own desire ? 
Immaculate daughters of passion, 
Shalt thou as they pass be past ? 
And thy people bewail thee, Thalassian, 
Lost, lost at the last ? 
 
III 
 
Nay, ere ye pass your people pass, 
As snow on summer hills, 
As dew upon the grass, 
As one that love fulfils, 
If he in folly wills 
Love a lass. 
 
Yet on this night of smiles and tears 
A maiden is the theme. 
The universe appears 
An idle summer dream 
Lost in the grey supreme 
Mist of years.