Page:Reuben and other poems.pdf/73

 But, quick and strong above them, I Heard my own heart-throbs sound, My thoughts, ’mid that dead hush, I felt Beating round and round. O I felt I was the one live thing Left, in a world aswound.

Ay, ’twixt the sleeping air and sky, And the tide that seem’d asleep, I mind how I stood, all stir and strain, My man’s life for to keep— Till, sudden, It fell! Sudden, on me Fell the grey Quiet deep.

It was not peace, it was not pain, Not hope and not despair. It was myself drawn out of me, And I set empty there. And I heard the slow words from my mouth Dropping, like a prayer.

The sea and sky stood firm, the waves Kept up their plashing sound, I seemed to wake to the life of things,