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| “IT was our wedding-day | |
| A month ago,” dear heart, I hear you say. | |
| If months, or years, or ages since have passed, | |
| I know not: I have ceased to question Time. | |
| I only know that once there pealed a chime | 5 |
| Of joyous bells, and then I held you fast, | |
| And all stood back, and none my right denied, | |
| And forth we walked: the world was free and wide | |
| Before us. Since that day | |
| I count my life: the Past is washed away. | 10 |
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| It was no dream, that vow: | |
| It was a voice that woke me from a dream;— | |
| A happy dream, I think; but I am waking now, | |
| And drink the splendor of a sun supreme | |
| That turns the mist of former tears to gold. | 15 |
| With these arms I hold | |
| The fleeting promise, chased so long in vain: | |
| Ah, weary bird! thou wilt not fly again: | |
| Thy wings are clipped, thou canst no more depart— | |
| Thy nest is builded in my heart! | 20 |
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| I was the crescent; thou | |
| The silver phantom of the perfect sphere, | |
| Held in its bosom: in one glory now | |
| Our lives united shine, and many a year— | |
| Not the sweet moon of bridal only—we | 25 |
| One lustre, ever at the full, shall be: | |
| One pure and rounded light, one planet whole, | |
| One life developed, one completed soul! | |
| For I in thee, and thou in me, | |
| Unite our cloven halves of destiny. | 30 |
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| God knew his chosen time. | |
| He bade me slowly ripen to my prime, | |
| And from my boughs withheld the promised fruit, | |
| Till storm and sun gave vigor to the root. | |
| Secure, O Love! secure | 35 |
| Thy blessing is: I have thee day and night: | |
| Thou art become my blood, my life, my light: | |
| God’s mercy thou, and therefore shalt endure. | |
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