So close, so like, so dear; and whom I love
    More than thou lovest them, or lovest me. 
    So beautiful to see,
Ah, and to touch!  When those far lights above
  Scorch me with farness—­lights that call and call
  To the far heart, and answer not at all;
    Save that they will not let the darkness be.

And what am I?  That I alone of these
    Make me most glad at noon?  That I should mark
    The after-glow go dark? 
This hour to sing—­but never have—­heart’s-ease! 
  That when the sorrowing winds fly low, and croon
  Outside our happy windows their old rune,
    Beautiful Mother, I must wake, and hark?

Who am I?  Why for me this iron Must? 
    Burden the moon-white ox would never bear;
    Load that he cannot share,
He, thine imperial hostage of the dust. 
  Else should I look to see the god’s surprise
  Flow from his great unscornful, lovely eyes—­
    The ox thou gavest to partake my care.

Yea, all they bear their yoke of sun-filled hours. 
    I, lord at noon, at nightfall no more free,
    Take on more heavily
The yoke of hid, intolerable Powers. 
  —­Then pushes here, in my forgetful hand,
  This near one’s breathless plea to understand. 
    Starward I look; he, even so, at me!

And she who shines within my house, my sight
    Of the heart’s eyes, my hearth-glow, and my rain,
    My singing’s one refrain—­
Are there for her no tidings from the height? 
  For her, my solace, likewise lost and far,
  Islanded with me here, on this lone star
    Washed by the ceaseless tides of dark and light.

What shall it profit, that I built for her
    A little wayside shelter from the stark
    Sky that we hear, and mark? 
Lo, in her eyes all dreams that ever were! 
  And cheek-to-cheek with me she shares the quest,
  Her heart, as mine for her, sole tented rest
    From light to light of day; from dark—­till Dark.

Yea, but for her, how should I greatly care
    Whither and whence?  But that the dark should blast
    Our bright!  To hold her fast,—­
Yet feel this dread creep gray along the air. 
  To know I cannot hold her so my own,
  But under surge of joy, the surges moan
    That threaten us with parting at the last!

Beautiful Mother, I am not thy son. 
    I know from echoes far behind the sky. 
    I know; I know not why. 
Even from thy golden, wide oblivion: 
Thy careless leave to help thy harvesting,
  Thy leave to work a little, live, and sing;
  Thy leave to suffer—­yea, to sing and die,
    Beautiful Mother! ... 
                 Ah, Whose child am I?

Love sang to me.  And I went down the stair,
And out into the darkness and the dew;
And bowed myself unto the little grass,
And the blind herbs, and the unshapen dust
Of earth without a face.  So let me be.