Youth And Love

Over our pilgrim fellowship there came A change, and though our road was still the same Our dreams divided us, and visions fair Filled us with longings that we could not share. All that once called us to the unknown quest Was hidden now within a maiden’s breast; All that was far away and wild and sweet Shone in her eyes and blossomed at her feet. She was our wonderland, our golden shore, The unknown world we travelled to explore, Our goal, not one far distant and unseen, But near, and with no barrier between To check us or to hide it from our sight, Save our own hesitation or her flight. Across the beaten road she passed; she led Through trackless regions, beckoned us or fled, We knew not which; we knew not if her face Appealed for help, or called us to the chase. Strife and confusion to our lives she brought, But life itself in lovelier hues she wrought. She was our spirit’s guide, our passion’s lure: She was the world’s undoing and its cure.

Of this enchantment, of the wild pursuit That woke in us the errant knight or brute, Of this confusion that upon us fell, Some do not speak, and none the same thing tell; And some were lost or made themselves a track Through lands unknown, and some at last came back,-- One with a new light shining in his eyes, One with the burden of his memories, One with his blood for new pursuit on fire, One weary seeking for his heart’s desire; And one who brought back to the beaten road A song of love that lightened half our load.

Comrades we met again; but though the way Was still the same, and though the night and day, The flowers at our feet, the stars above, Shone as before,--the mystery of love Filled heaven and earth with something new and sweet And wild and sorrowful and incomplete, And once more called us to the unknown quest To seek the unfulfilled and unpossessed.