Page:Impressions- A Book of Verse.djvu/21

 LOVE'S PRAYER

OVE without hope cannot endure, you say; Let mine eyes utter what you know too well, Thus shall their sad insistence ever tell A love you shuuld not scorn or drive away, A love in sorrow growing day by day Like those pale blossoms in the shade that dwell But reach more strenuous toward the half guessed spell The sun faint flickering through thick leaves would lay.

I ask not of you what you cannot give, I ask for this my love but leave to live, Since dying it must suffer keener pain Than living for your sake, though all in vain, Yet not in vain if you grant one last prayer: Let others share your joy; with me your sorrow share!