| George William (“A. E.”) Russell (1867–1935). Collected Poems by A.E. 1913. |
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| 131. Ordeal |
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| LOVE and pity are pleading with me this hour. | |
| What is this voice that stays me forbidding to yield, | |
| Offering beauty, love, and immortal power, | |
| Æons away in some far-off heavenly field? | |
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| Though I obey thee, Immortal, my heart is sore. | 5 |
| Though love be withdrawn for love it bitterly grieves: | |
| Pity withheld in the breast makes sorrow more. | |
| Oh that the heart could feel what the mind believes! | |
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| Cease, O love, thy fiery and gentle pleading. | |
| Soft is thy grief, but in tempest through me it rolls. | 10 |
| Dream’st thou not whither the path is leading | |
| Where the Dark Immortal would shepherd our weeping souls? | |
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