A LAST MESSAGE

DEAR, I lie dying, and thou dost not know— Thou whom of all the world I love the best, And wilt not know until I lie at rest, With lips forever closed and lids dropped low. O Love, O Love, I cannot leave thee so! Cannot, still undivined, still unexpressed, Unheeding to the last my heart’s behest, Dumb into the eternal silence go! What reck I in this moment of disgrace? Albeit the whole world hear what my heart saith, I cry aloud to thee across all space, To thee—to thee—I call with my last breath! O Love, lean forth from out thy dwelling-place! Listen, and learn I loved thee, Love, till death.