TO A LONELY STAR

ONCE more we keep our tryst—I on the beach, Brooding in milky tides of Autumn moon, Watching the gold black water softly reach And fill the hollows of grass silvered dune; Till, far beyond the rim of a lagoon I see Thee in thy calm ascension tread A darkened way to thy cloud-cloistered rest; Hanging thy maiden lantern in the West, Where planet torches lie extinguishéd. The world will never miss me when I go. These gossip ripples in the sedges there Will still be whispering of that Thing they know; The moon’s new milk will bathe the young and fair, Nourishing Youth and Passion with such care. But Thou, O Abbess Star! keep trimmed thy light, Taking thy warder-way across the moor. Yea, many a woman by her cottage door Will need thy comfort all the lonely night.