Egeria's Silence

Her thought that, like a brook beside the way, Sang to my steps through all the wandering year, Has ceased from melody—O Love, allay My sudden fear! She cannot fail—the beauty of that brow Could never flower above a desert heart— Somewhere beneath, the well-spring even now Lives, though apart. Some day, when winter has renewed her fount With cold, white-folded snows and quiet rain, O Love, O Love, her stream again will mount And sing again!