Poem by Paul Hamilton Hayne

Absence and Love

WE need the clasp of hand in hand,
The light flashed warm from neighboring eyes:
Or else as weary seasons pass--
Alas! alas!
Our tenderest love grows wan and dies.

The fatal years like seas expand
'Twixt souls that long have dwelt apart,
Till, broadening o'er our being's verge,
The ruthless surge
Love's memory sweeps from out the heart.
Absence! thou unreverenced Death!
Thy dense, unconsecrated clay
Inurns affection past regret;
No hint is set
Thereon of Resurrection Day.

1. Fate, or God?
2. Aspects of the Pines
3. The Soul-Conflict
4. A Morning after Storm
5. Now, While the Rear-Guard of the Flying Year

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