| Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. 1909. | | | | Poems; A New Edition. 1853 | | Thekla’s Answer |
| | (From Schiller.)
[First published 1853. Not reprinted by the author.]
WHERE I am, thou ask’st, and where wended | |
| When my fleeting shadow pass’d from thee?— | |
| Am I not concluded now, and ended? | |
| Have not life and love been granted me? | |
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| Ask, where now those nightingales are singing, | 5 |
| Who, of late, on the soft nights of May, | |
| Set thine ears with soul-fraught music ringing— | |
| Only, while their love liv’d, lasted they. | |
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| Find I him, from whom I had to sever?— | |
| Doubt it not, we met, and we are one. | 10 |
| There, where what is join’d, is join’d for ever, | |
| There, where tears are never more to run. | |
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| There thou too shalt live with us together, | |
| When thou too hast borne the love we bore: | |
| There, from sin deliver’d, dwell my Father, | 15 |
| Track’d by Murder’s bloody sword no more. | |
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| There he feels, it was no dream deceiving | |
| Lur’d him starwards to uplift his eye: | |
| God doth match his gifts to man’s believing; | |
| Believe, and thou shalt find the Holy nigh. | 20 |
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| All thou augurest here of lovely seeming | |
| There shall find fulfilment in its day: | |
| Dare, O Friend, be wandering, dare be dreaming; | |
| Lofty thought lies oft in childish play. | | | | |
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