Thou Art My Long-Lost Place

THOU art my long-lost peace:
All trouble, and all care,
Like winds on the ocean cease —
Leaving serene and fair
The evening-gilded wave
Above the unmeasured deep —
When thy serene dark eyes
Call to the soul, in sleep —
In sleep. The waking hour —
How sweet its power may be!
How lovely the bird, and flower
That feigned reality!
But further yet, there is
A spirit, strange to earth,
Within whose longing lies
What day can not bring forth.
So I — though hand and lips,
Being body’s, pine for thine —
Watch from my dreams in sleep
What earthly clocks resign
To cloaked Eternity:
Then weeping, sighing, must go
Back to that haunt in me,
In rapture, and in woe.