Just to be true to one grand swift desire

Which shall all other furious faiths outpace;

To run with strength an uncontested race

Till, knowing how the soul is catching fire

And generous flame is clambering through the

heart—

For Self, what though heroic, is not best—

I grasp my life and hurl it with the rest,

Joining myself to God—a puny part.

One holy thing to fail for—thus to die;

To give men love, who knew before remorse;

Then, meekly seek with Christ some scornful

Cross,

But leave the world more kind in passing by—

In piercing through the covering doth of night

To lodge one star, and vanish strong in flight.

Kiss me," she said, "for I must die

Ere any star his flight hath ta'en,

And cold and unperturbed shall lie

When Night doth pace our earth again.

And thou, dear love, if thou should'st weep,

And if thy heart with anguish break,

From sweet sad dreams thy solace take

And lose thy pain in painless sleep.

Kiss me, dear love, for I must die

And cold and unperturbed shall lie."

Kiss me, dear friend, for now I feel

That thou art as a glimpse of God;

More tender passions through me steal

Than when this wayward world I trod.

Lie still, dear heart, and do not speak—

God would not stoop to such as me;

With silent mouth and noiselessly

I would my grave Creator seek.

Kiss me, dear love, for now I feel

More noble passions through me steal."

Kiss me, this last, for I must flee

From all I loved and cherished here,

And now must go distressfully

Bereft, in solitude and fear.

But, when your eyes are closed in sleep,

I shall descend the starry steeps

Where Leon for her lover weeps

And tired hands have naught to reap.

Kiss me, dear love, alone I flee

To meet unknown Eternity."