Page:Collected poems of Flecker.djvu/53

 Last Love

(From Novalis—adaptation of his last words) Now for a last glad look upon life: my journey is ending: Now this door that is Death quietly shuts me behind. Thankful I hear Love's call—the faithful call of a comrade: Then all joyful am I, ready to give her my heart. All through life it is Love hath been my counsellor only: Hers be the praise alway if I have followed aright. For as a mother awakes with kisses her slumbering baby, As she first has a care—as she alone understands— So has Love been mine, has watched and tended and kissed me: Near me when I was a child: near me till I was a man. Thus, mid sorrow or doubt, I have clung to her, learning her lesson: Now she has made me free—free to rejoice evermore.

1904 ? 17