HOW sweet it were, if without feeble fright, Or dying of the dreadful beauteous sight, At evening in our room, and bend on ours About our hearths, angels, that are to be, Or may be if they will; and we prepare A child, a friend, a wife, whose soft heart sings Leigh Hunt. SHE "HE AND SHE." HE is dead!" they said to him; come away; They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair; With a tender touch they closed up well About her brows and beautiful face They tied her veil and her marriage lace; And over her bosom they crossed her hands, And they held their breath till they left the room, But he who loved her too well to dread "He and She." He lighted his lamp and took the key And turned it, alone again, he and she. He and she; but she would not speak, 215 Though he kissed, in the old place, the quiet cheek. He and she; yet she would not smile, He and she still she did not move To any one passionate whisper of love. Then he said: "Cold lips and breast without breath, Is there no voice, no language of death, "Dumb to the ear and still to the sense, But to heart and to soul distinct, intense? "See now; I will listen with soul, not ear. What was the secret of dying, dear? "Was it the infinite wonder of all "Or was it a greater marvel to feel The perfect calm o'er the agony steal? "Was the miracle greater to find how deep Beyond all dreams sank downward that sleep? "Did life roll back its records, dear; And show, as they say it does, past things clear? "And was it the innermost part of the bliss To find out so, what a wisdom love is? "O perfect dead! O dead most dear, I hold the breath of my soul to hear! "There must be pleasure in dying, sweet, To make you so placid from head to feet! "I would tell you, darling, if I were dead, "I would say, though the Angel of Death had laid His sword on my lips to keep it unsaid. "You should not ask vainly, with streaming eyes, Which of all deaths was the chiefest surprise, "The very strangest and suddenest thing Of all the surprises that dying must bring." "He and She." Ah, foolish world! O most kind dead ! Though he told me, who will believe it was said? Who will believe that he heard her say, With the sweet, soft voice, in the dear old way: "The utmost wonder is this, I hear, "And am your angel, who was your bride, 217 Sir Edwin Arnold. |