Poems — Regrets

REGRETS

As, when the seaward ebbing tide doth pour Out by the low sand spaces, The parting waves slip back to clasp the shore With lingering embraces,-- So in the tide of life that carries me From where thy true heart dwells, Waves of my thoughts and memories turn to thee With lessening farewells;

Waving of hands; dreams, when the day forgets;

A care half lost in cares;

The saddest of my verses; dim regrets;

Thy name among my prayers.

I would the day might come, so waited for, So patiently besought, When I, returning, should fill up once more Thy desolated thought;

And fill thy loneliness that lies apart In still, persistent pain.

Shall I content thee, O thou broken heart, As the tide comes again, And brims the little sea-shore lakes, and sets Seaweeds afloat, and fills The silent pools, rivers and rivulets Among the inland hills?