dialogue between two friends.
139
III.
I feel as feels a shipwrecked man
Swimming the waves for life's dear sake.
I yield up all; the ocean can
Each joy, each costly treasure take,
So life be won.
I yield my Tyrian merchandise—
Those argosies of hope which give
Life to man's life, and I arise
Naked, forlorn; but yet I live,
And shall live on.
You see, my friend, I have o'ercome.
There is no weakness in this breast.
Vainly you'd stir the void for some
Old feeling which it once possessed.
And yet—and yet—
Must I not see her once again,
If but to prove by cold disdain
That I forget?
Swimming the waves for life's dear sake.
I yield up all; the ocean can
Each joy, each costly treasure take,
So life be won.
I yield my Tyrian merchandise—
Those argosies of hope which give
Life to man's life, and I arise
Naked, forlorn; but yet I live,
And shall live on.
You see, my friend, I have o'ercome.
There is no weakness in this breast.
Vainly you'd stir the void for some
Old feeling which it once possessed.
And yet—and yet—
Must I not see her once again,
If but to prove by cold disdain
That I forget?
IV.
That I have read her through and through,
Indifferent to those queenly charms;
Indifferent to those queenly charms;
