XXI. ‘Two lovers stood alone beneath the night’
Two lovers stood alone beneath the night,
And, quickened with a sudden strength, one said,
‘To-night is ours to snatch from out the dead
An immortality of vast delight.
When Youth has felt the touch of time and fled,
When Love in chill despair has taken flight,
There is one joy that knows not change nor blight,—
Ah, kiss me, ere the fleeting hour be sped!’
The hovering moon leaned low in rapt desire,
Two souls uprose beyond oblivion,
A shout triumphal shook the starry choir,
Then sacred silence fell, until the sun
Gazed like a victor, as he gazes now,
On the new day and the undying vow.
