De Profundis
I thought today within the crowded mart
I saw thee for a moment, friend of mine,
And all at once my blood leapt fast and fine
And a new light broke on my shadowed heart.
’T was but a moment that my fancy’s art
Moulded another’s features into thine,
For when he passed me by and gave no sign,
The bitter truth came back with sudden start.
Then I remembered how the Merlin spell
Of waving arms and woven paces bands
Thy dust forever in its four-walled cell,
Heedless of all except thy Seer’s commands—
Holds thee enraptured with the charms that dwell
In broken paces and in folded hands.