Emily Pfeiffer (1841–1890)

I LOVE to feel your hand, beloved,

I love to feel your hand;

Then hold me fast until we part

Upon the gloomy strand,

And I upon the silent sea

Go forth alone from love and thee!

I love to see your smile, which says

What else you dare not say:

It gilds for me the gloomy shore,

It seems to light my way.

Brave love, keep back your tears awhile

That parting I may see your smile!

Oh, let me hear your voice, beloved,—

Your face I see no more!

That tender voice still sounds above

The breakers of the shore;

And for a space may follow me

Out, out upon the silent sea!

One kiss upon my lips, sad lips

That cannot kiss thee back,

Let love proclaim his bitter truth—

Bear witness on the rack!

One kiss, the longest and the last,

Resuming all the sacred past!

Oh love that seems to rise as rise

The waters of that sea,

To rise and overflow, and float

My soul, O God, to thee!

Thy voice, thy smile, thy kiss, thy breath,

Beloved, have rapt my soul from death!