Alone

Oh! arms that ache with weary emptiness, Yet knew Love’s fullness ere your day was old, How shall I turn with comforting to you Who have the burden’s tender memory still? Hands that but clasp each other, wet with tears Yet tingling with the pressure of a touch Scarce now withdrawn, I give you no regret-- Whose “has been” gladdens all the long “to be.” What know you, though you grieve, of loneliness, Who count the days back sure of smiles that were, And eyes that looked and loved and understood? Empty the arms, companioned still the soul-- For souls once met blend all futurity Into that meeting.

But one I knew whose empty heart had ne’er Beat faster to the sound of kindred step; Whose hand no other hand had reached to grasp In brotherhood of purpose; in whose ear No voice spoke greeting in a mother tongue: A soul that from the Chaos back of Time Passed out alone, and through the Then and Now Walked alien past the homes of happy men. E’en stars bend to each other through the blue, And earth calls upward to her sister spheres; But seeking, seeking, still in ceaseless quest, This soul went outward to Eternity.