Page:Dreams and Images.djvu/264

 Long ago was I weary of voices Whose magic my heart could not win; Long ago was I weary of noises That fretted my soul with their din; Long ago was I weary of places Where I met but the human—and sin.

I walked through the world with the worldly; I craved what the world never gave; And I said: "In the world, each Ideal That shines like a star on life's wave, Is wrecked on the shores of the Real,  And sleeps like a dream in a grave."

And still did I pine for the Perfect, And still found the false with the true; I sought 'mid the human for heaven, And caught a mere glimpse of its blue; And I wept when the clouds of the mortal Veiled even that glimpse from my view.

And I toiled on, heart-tired of the Human; And I moaned 'mid the mazes of men; Till I knelt, long ago, at an altar And heard a voice call me. Since then I walk down the Valley of Silence That lies far beyond human ken.

Do you ask what I found in the Valley? 'Tis my trysting-place with the Divine; And I fell at the feet of the Holy, And above me a voice said: "Be mine!" And there rose from the depths of my spirit An echo—"My heart shall be thine."