Madison Julius Cawein

Unattainable

I

What though the soul be tired
For that to which 'twas fired,
The far, dear, still desired,
 Beyond the heaven's scope;
Beyond us and above us,
The thing we would have love us,
That will know nothing of us,
 But only bids us hope.

II

It still behooves us ever
From loving ne'er to sever,
To love it though it never
 Reciprocate our care;
For love, when freely given,
Lets in soft hints of heaven
In memories that leaven
 Black humors of despair.

III

For in this life diurnal
All earthly, gross, infernal,
Conflicts with that eternal
 To make its love as lust;
To rot the fairest flower
Of thought which is a power,
All happiness to sour,
 And burn our eyes with dust.

IV

Believe, some power higher
Breathes in us this desire
With purpose strange as fire,
 And soft though seeming hard;
Who to such starved endeavor
And wasted love, that never
Seems recompensed, forever
 Gives in His way reward.