Mortimer Collins (1827–1876)

O HAPPY life, whose love is found!

O happy love, whose life is free!

O happy strings whose soft notes sound

Athwart the sea!

The sea has mistress in the moon,

The moon has lover in the sea:

They meet too late, they part too soon—

And so do we.

I am adored, yet must obey;

I am a queen, and yet a slave.

It seems to me the self-same way

With moon and wave.

O be it so! O let it be!

O may I always rule and serve,

And live the life whose love is free,

And never swerve!