Communion

In the silence of my heart,     I will spend an hour with thee,     When my love shall rend apart     All the veil of mystery:     All that dim and misty veil     That shut in between our souls     When Death cried, "Ho, maiden, hail!"     And your barque sped on the shoals.     On the shoals? Nay, wrongly said.     On the breeze of Death that sweeps     Far from life, thy soul has sped     Out into unsounded deeps.     I shall take an hour and come     Sailing, darling, to thy side.     Wind nor sea may keep me from     Soft communings with my bride.     I shall rest my head on thee     As I did long days of yore,     When a calm, untroubled sea     Rocked thy vessel at the shore.     I shall take thy hand in mine,     And live o'er the olden days     When thy smile to me was wine,--     Golden wine thy word of praise,     For the carols I had wrought     In my soul's simplicity;     For the petty beads of thought     Which thine eyes alone could see.     Ah, those eyes, love-blind, but keen     For my welfare and my weal!     Tho' the grave-door shut between,     Still their love-lights o'er me steal.     I can see thee thro' my tears,     As thro' rain we see the sun.     What tho' cold and cooling years     Shall their bitter courses run,--     I shall see thee still and be     Thy true lover evermore,     And thy face shall be to me     Dear and helpful as before.     Death may vaunt and Death may boast,     But we laugh his pow'r to scorn;     He is but a slave at most,--     Night that heralds coming morn.     I shall spend an hour with thee     Day by day, my little bride.     True love laughs at mystery,     Crying, "Doors of Death, fly wide."