Beautiful Hour, We Must Part
translated by Jethro Bithell
BEAUTIFUL hour, we must part,
Thou in dream and roses dight
Straying for ever towards the vague and night ...
And yet I waited for thee like a sweetheart,
I chastened my soul, and made it fit
For thy shoulder's nakedness, whereon alit
My kiss already trembling with awaiting it.
When I lifted mine eyes, far, far away,
Thou it was turning the new-mown hay,
Thou it was in the new vintagings,
And it was thy step, all a shiver of wings.
Thou wert my hope, and now thou art come ere I wist,
Laughing and frail in thy naked beauty, girt
With joy and love, thou who wert ...
Between yesterday and to-morrow is no to-day,
And thou and I--I swear!--we have not kissed.