Sophie Jewett (“Ellen Burroughs”) (1861–1909)

SMALL fellowship of daily commonplace

We hold together, dear, constrained to go

Diverging ways. Yet day by day I know

My life is sweeter for thy life’s sweet grace;

And if we meet but for a moment’s space,

Thy touch, thy word, sets all the world aglow.

Faith soars serener, haunting doubts shrink low,

Abashed before the sunshine of thy face.

Nor press of crowd, nor waste of distance serves

To part us. Every hush of evening brings

Some hint of thee, true-hearted friend of mine;

And as the farther planet thrills and swerves

When towards it through the darkness Saturn swings,

Even so my spirit feels the spell of thine.