More Songs from Vagabondia

by Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey

 

A SILENCE

 
HEART to heart!
And the stillness of night and the moonlight, like hushed breathing
Silently, stealthily moving across thy hair!

O womanly face!
5
Tender and strong and lucent with infinite feeling,
Shrinking with startled joy, like wind-struck water,
And yet so frank, so unashamed of love!

Ay, for there it is, love—that’s the deepest.
Love’s not love in the dark.
10
Light loves wither i’ the sun, but Love endureth,
Clothing himself with the light as with a robe.

I would bare my soul to thy sight—
Leave not a secret deep unsearched,
Unrevealing its shame or its glory.
15
Love without Truth shall die as a soul without God.
A lying love is the love of a day
But the brave and true shall love forever.

Build Love a house;
Let the walls be thick;
20
Shut him in from the sight of men;
But hide not Love from himself.

Ah, the summer night!
The wind in the trees and the moonlight!
And my kisses on thy throat
25
And thy breathing in my hair!

Silent, lips to lips!
But our souls have held speech, thought answering echoing thought,
Though the only words were kisses.