A while you shared my path and solitude,
A while you ate the bread of loneliness,
And satisfied yourself with a caress
Or with a careless overflow of mood. 
And then you left me suddenly, to press
Into the world again, and seek your food
Among the mortals whom you understood,
Instead of learning in the wilderness.

Now you return to where you fled from me,
And find me gone.  You call me from afar,
And call in vain; I can not turn to see
You loveliness, beloved as you are. 
Inexorably I move from sphere to sphere,
Nor wait for any soul, however dear.

XV

There is a void that reason can not face,
Nor wisdom comprehend, nor sweating will
Diminish, nor the rain of April fill,
And I am weary of this wan grimace. 
Behold I touch the garments of all ill
And do not wash my hands; a dusty place
Unprobed by light becomes a loud mill race
That swirls together straw and daffodil.

It is untrue that vigil can not trace
The orbits which upon our births distil
The filtered dew of fate; I saw the hill
That I must climb, and gauged the upward pace;
And now upon the night’s worn window sill,
I wait and smile.  Hail, Judas, full of grace.

XVI

The mirrors of all ages are the eyes
Of some remembering god, wherein are sealed
The beauties of the world, the April field,
Young faces, blowing hair, and autumn skies. 
The mirrors of the world shall break, and yield
To life again what never really dies;
The forms and colours of earth’s pageantries,
Unwithered and undimmed, shall be revealed.

And in that moment silence shall unfold
Forgotten songs that she has held interred,
The ocean rising on the shores of gold,
Flecked with white laughter and love’s lyric word;
All happy music that the world has heard;
All beauty that eternal eyes behold.

XVII

We sat in silence till the twilight fell,
And then beyond the vague and purple arc
Where sky and ocean merge, a summons.  “Hark! 
Clear notes like water falling in a well,
Can you not hear?” “No, but a sudden dark
Seems to enfold me, lonely and terrible.” 
Out of the sunset, a black caravel
Drew near, and then I knew I should embark.

I saw it tack against the fading skies,
I heard its keel slide crunching up the sand,
Then turned, and read, deep in the other’s eyes,
The pain of one who can not understand. 
Dusk deepened over the insurging seas,
And loose sails crackled in the rising breeze.

XVIII

He clung to me, his young face dark with woe,
And as the mournful music of the tide
Monotonously sang, he stood and cried,
A silhouette against the afterglow. 
I said, “The boat has spread her pinions wide;
The stars and wind come forth together.  Go
Back to our ivy-haunted portico,
And place my seat as always at your side.”