Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Edmund ClarenceStedman

564 Song from a Drama

THOU art mine, thou hast given thy word;

Close, close in my arms thou art clinging;

Alone for my ear thou art singing

A song which no stranger hath heard:

But afar from me yet, like a bird,

Thy soul, in some region unstirred,

On its mystical circuit is winging.

Thou art mine, I have made thee mine own;

Henceforth we are mingled forever:

But in vain, all in vain, I endeavor—

Though round thee my garlands are thrown,

And thou yieldest thy lips and thy zone—

To master the spell that alone

My hold on thy being can sever.

Thou art mine, thou hast come unto me!

But thy soul, when I strive to be near it—

The innermost fold of thy spirit—

Is as far from my grasp, is as free,

As the stars from the mountain-tops be,

As the pearl, in the depths of the sea,

From the portionless king that would wear it.