Could I but see thy face again
A moment's space,
Its young, delightful mock-disdain,
Its wooing grace;
Could I but kiss thy wilful hair,
That restless hand,
Would you divine how dear you were
And understand?

Why was it when our hearts were near
They would not speak?
What barrier of love's shy fear
Could we not break?
When all my living was thy love
My lips were dumb,
Only when chance and place remove
The accents come.

In those sweet days my daily bread
Was seeing thee;
Richly my heart with love was fed,
And poesy
Now others love where I have loved,
And taste their fill,
So far away is that removed
I worship still.

Now for the garden of thy lips
I only sigh;
My sun of life dark clouds eclipse
'Thwart all the sky;
O in thy new-won paradise
Wilt thou recall
The love that found in thy young eyes
The sum of all?