Here in the Far Land of our own begetting,

Crouched on the haunted cliff begirt by sea,

Hushed in the murmurous swell of dim waves

fretting

Walls and sheer rocks which cradle you and me,

How shall we lisp of older worlds and cities?

How shall we sigh for newer worlds to be?

Naught here is left of moanings or of pities,

Only the whispered silence of the sea.

We had no stars to shine our curved prows hither,

Nor had we moons to guide us fearlessly,

Only the age-long yearnings of the river

Bruised by steep banks and aching for the sea;

Rivers whose tides grow tired of earthly lilies,

Too full of splendour to last so long as we,

Rivers whose length-long craving and strong will is

Once to see space, and then to cease to be.

Hither we journeyed sunset-ways by water,

I in my phantom keel of Poesy,

You in Sleep's arms, of whom you are the daughter,

Till in my arms Sleep laid you noiselessly.

Down through the dusk our dreamland barque

drove gleaming,

Under gray sails, through gradual groves of sea,

Till from your eyes I saw the love-light streaming,

And gave the kiss which set your spirit free.

All the fair glories of our first beginnings

We did forsake to gain this quiet place;

Passions we left, and fears, and youthful sinnings;

Virtues we left, and early signs of grace.

Dreamings we brought and beauty of the May-

time,

All else we flung to where Time's whirlwinds race.

Timeless are we in this our godlike play-time,

Since Sleep has led us gently face to face.

Gray glide the mists around our ocean's edges,

Gray grope the tides across the gray-paved sea,

Gray clings the foam about our granite ledges,

Naught, naught remains to safeguard you from

me.

These axe the souls who watch us at our dreaming,

Spirits of mist, of spray-dashed crag and sea;

All, all is hushed, save your gray eyes deep gleaming,

Eyes of veiled flame in caves of mystery.

Like frozen stars, we watched each other's shining,

Wondered with pain if any time might be,

When we should lean beyond our own divining,

Touching the lips of others such as we,

Till I grew faint within my lonely heaven,

Sank through the cloudland stretched twixt you

and me,

Plunged through the thunder where firmaments

rocked riven,

So gave the kiss which set your spirit free.

We must go hence, when flames the tyrant morning,

We shall go hence at breaking of new day;

We, like the stars strange midnight lands adorning,

We must go hence, steal separately away.

Yet, like the stars, perchance we may glide burning

When round the earth the skies are growing gray;

We to our haunted cliff may sail returning,

Nearing the crags where yesternight we lay.

Thus from the Far Land of our own begetting

I must depart across Sleep's sundering sea,

Throughout the Sim Land wander inly fretting,

Till night drifts back restoring you to me;

Till through the dark I see Love's pennons streaming,

When you will kiss and set my spirit free;

Till through the dusk our dreamland barque drives

gleaming,

Under gray sails, through gradual groves of sea.