Description
Agnes Mary Frances Robinson's poem is included in the second printing of "The Crowned Hippolytus". The poem is referring to her relationship with Vernon Lee (Violet Page).
Text
LOVER'S SILENCE.
WHEN she whose love is even my air of life
Enters, delay being past, to bless my home,
And ousts her phantom from its place, being come
Herself to fill it ; when the importunate strife
Of absence with desire is stilled, and rife
With heaven is earth ; why am I stricken dumb,
Abashed, confounded, awed of heart and numb,
Waking no triumph of song, no welcoming of fife?
Be thine own answer, soul, who long ago
Didst see the awful light of Beauty shine,
Silent ; and silently rememberest yet
That glory which no spirit may forget,
Nor utter save in love a thought too fine
For souls to ignore, or mortal sense to know.
Page numbers in original volume
194
