LOVE’S VIGIL

C. F. ANDREWS

I will keep my love pure and inviolate

Through the dark days and long-drawn hours of pain,

And in this winter of desolation wait

Steadfast, till golden summer comes again.

I will build an imperishable shrine,

One lamp before its altar burning bright,

Silent prayers shall wreathe their anodyne,

And stillness soothe in sorrow’s own dispite.

This numb, chill frost shall break in sudden flood,

This ice-bound stream shall flush to overflowing,

Each throbbing vein pulse music through the blood,

And winter end in summer’s rapturous glowing.

Joy shall return in its own season due,

If my heart’s love to its own truth be true.

(From “Shama A”, October 1920)

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