BEFORE PARTING
Love, though the whole earth crumble and rock,
With the shattering roar of the guns' huge booming,
Though in that horror of din and flame and murder
All men's blood grows faint and their limbs as water,
Though I return once more to the terror of battle,
Though perchance I be lost to you for ever—
Give me, O love, your love for this last brief season,
Be mine indeed as I am yours for ever.
Tonight there shall be no tears, no wearing sorrow,
No drawn-out agony of hope, no cold despairing,
Only we two together in a sudden glory
Of infinite delight and sharp sweet yearning,
Shutting out for a space the world's harsh horror.
Kiss my lips with your mouth that is wet with wine,
Wine that is only less keen than your lips are,
Slip from your fragile garments as a white rose
Slips from under her leaves to the naked sunlight;
Give to my eyes your straight young body,
The limbs that embrace me, the breasts that caress me,
Hold me to you as I hold you and kiss me,
Whisper to me the sudden words of yearning,
The broken words that speak an infinite yearning
That delight would last for ever, love would never be ended.
Let me take you with all my senses, all my days, dear,
All the days that built up my flesh and framed me
A man to be your lover, a man to mate you,
A man whose flesh is white with desire for you.
Take me also, make me yours, as a woman
Who knows love's torture, who is burned with the same burning,
Only can take the lover herself has chosen
Until his broken sobs mix with her love-plaint.
Take me thus and I care not if death come after,
For to-night there shall be no tears, no wearing sorrow,
Only our kisses and whispers and stabbing heart-beats.