AT PARTING

AT PARTING

For a day and a night Love sang to us, played with us,

Folded us round from the dark and the light;

And our hearts were fulfilled of the music he made with us,

Made with our hearts and our lips while he stayed with us,

Stayed in mid passage his pinions from flight

For a day and a night.

From his foes that kept watch with his wings had he hidden us,

Covered us close from the eyes that would smite,

From the feet that had tracked and the tongues that had chidden us

Sheltering in shade of the myrtles forbidden us

Spirit and flesh growing one with delight

For a day and a night.

But his wings will not rest and his feet will not stay for us:

Morning is here in the joy of its might;

With his breath has he sweetened a night and a day for us;

Now let him pass, and the myrtles make way for us;

Love can but last in us here at his height

For a day and a night.