Collected Works (Vol. I)

EPILOGUE For fear of such a God! O blind! O fool! To heed these strangers, and to be the tool Of their smooth Hes and monstrous miracles! O break this bondage and cast off their spells ! Five righteous! Thou a righteous man! A jest ! A righteous man-—you always loved me best, And even when lured by lips of wanton girls Would turn away and sigh and touch my curls And slip half-conscious to the old em- brace: And now you will not let me see your face Or hear your voice or touch you. Ah! the hour! Fle moves. Come back, come back, my life’s one flower ! Come back. One kiss before you leave me. So! Stop—turn—one little kiss before you go ; It is my right—you must. Ohno! Ohno! EPILOGUE. To die amid the blossoms of the frost On far fair heights; to sleep the quiet sleep Of dead men underneath the snowy steep Of many mountains ; ever to have lost These cares and these distrusts 3 to lie alone, Watched by the distant eagle’s drowsy wing, Stars and grey summits, and the winds that sing Slow dirges in eternal monotone. Such is my soul’s desire, being weary of This vain eternity of sleepless dreams That is my life; withal there still may be In other worlds, the hope of other love Than this that floods my veins with poisonous streams, And wastes with wan desire of me. the soul