Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke
Philip Bourke Marston (18501887)Inseparable
W
The earth above us lain,
When we no more in autumn hear
The fall of leaves and rain,
Or round the snow-enshrouded year
The midnight winds complain;
Its sights and sounds may mind;
The warm wet leaves set quivering
With touches of the wind,
The birds at morn, and birds that sing
When day is left behind;
Intensely bright and still;
When some meandering brooklet sighs,
At parting from its hill;
And scents from voiceless gardens rise,
The peaceful air to fill;
The deep, dim woods discern,
Nor hear the nightingales at night,
In vehement singing, yearn
To stars and moon, that, dumb and bright,
In nightly vigil burn;
And words that lovers say,
And sighs of love, and passionate tears
Are lost to us for aye,
What thing of all our love appears,
In cold and coffin’d clay?
Our lips shall quite forget;
When, where the day upon us rose,
The day shall rise and set,
While we for love’s sublime repose
Shall have not one regret;—
That, be death near or far,
When we have crossed the fatal brink,
And found nor moon nor star—
To know not, when in death we sink,
The lifeless things we are.
That when we sleep so well,
On memories that we leave behind,
When kindred spirits dwell,
My name to thine in words they’ll bind
Of love inseparable.