Page:Poems Barrett.djvu/282

Loved Once.

    I classed, appraising once,
Earth's lamentable sounds; the welladay,
    The jarring yea and nay,
The fall of kisses on unanswering clay,
The sobbed farewell, the welcome mournfuller
    But all did leaven the air
With a less bitter leaven of sure despair,
    Than these words—"I loved once."

    And who saith, "I loved once?"
Not angels, whose clear-eyes, love, love, foresee,
    Love through eternity,
Who, by To Love, do apprehend To Be.
Not God, called Love, His noble crown-name,—casting
    A light too broad for blasting!
The great God, changing not from everlasting,
    Saith never, "I loved once."

    Nor ever the "Loved once,"
Dost Thou say, Victim-Christ, misprized friend!
    The cross and curse may rend;
But, having loved, Thou lovest to the end!
It is man's saying—man's! Too weak to move
    One sphered star above,
Man desecrates the eternal God-word Love
    With his No more, and Once.

    How say ye, "We loved once,"
Blasphemers? Is your earth not cold enow,
    Mourners, without that snow?
Ah, friends! and would ye wrong each other so?
And could ye say of some, whose love is known,
    Whose prayers have met your own,
Whose tears have fallen for you, whose smiles have shone,
    Such words, "We loved them once?"