| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Art | | By James Thomson (1834–1882) |
| | | WHAT precious thing are you making fast | |
| In all these silken lines? | |
| And where and to whom will it go at last? | |
| Such subtle knots and twines! | |
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| I am tying up all my love in this, | 5 |
| With all its hopes and fears, | |
| With all its anguish and all its bliss, | |
| And its hours as heavy as years. | |
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| I am going to send it afar, afar, | |
| To I know not where above; | 10 |
| To that sphere beyond the highest star | |
| Where dwells the soul of my Love. | |
| |
| But in vain, in vain, would I make it fast | |
| With countless subtle twines; | |
| For ever its fire breaks out at last, | 15 |
| And shrivels all the lines. | | | | |
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