Volume 75 — TOO LATE.
Reading edition
I.
And we have met, O love, at last!
Thy cheek is wan with wild regret;
The bloom of life is half-way past;
But we have met!—yes, we have met!
II.
My heart was wak’d beneath thy kiss
From dreams which seem to haunt it yet:
But I am I—thou, thou—and this
Is waking truth—and we have met!
III.
Ah, though ’tis late, there may remain
Before the grave—oh yet, even yet—
Some quiet hours; and, free from pain,
Some happy days, now we have met.
IV.
Thine arms! thine arms!—one long embrace!
Ah, what is this? thine eyes are wet—
Thy hand—it waves me from the place—
Ah fool!—O love, too late we met!
V.
Couldst thou not wait?—what hast thou done?
Another’s rights are sharply set
’Twixt thee and me. I come—mine own
Receives me not. In vain we met.
VI.
Farewell! be happy. I forgive.
Yet what remains for both? Forget
That we did ever meet; and live
As tho’ our meeting were not yet,
VII.
But later. We shall meet once more,
When eyes grown dim with care and fret
No longer weep; when life is o’er,
And earth and heaven in God are met.
Trevor.
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