But now I crave no mortal union
(Thanks for that sweetness in the past);
I need some subtle, strange communion,
Some sense that _I_ join _you_, at last.

Long past the pulse and pain of passion,
Long left the limits of all love,--
I crave some nearer, fuller fashion,
Some unknown way, beyond, above,--

Some infinitely inner fusion,
As Wave with Water; Flame with Fire,--
Let me dream once the dear delusion
That I am You, Oh, Heart's Desire!

Your kindness lent to my caresses
That beauty you so lightly prize,--
The midnight of your sable tresses,
The twilight of your shadowed eyes.

Ah, for that gift all thanks are given!
Yet, Oh, adored, beyond control,
Count all the passionate past forgiven
And love me once, once, from your soul.

Three Songs of Zahir-u-Din

The tropic day's redundant charms
Cool twilight soothes away,
The sun slips down behind the palms
And leaves the landscape grey.
I want to take you in my arms
And kiss your lips away!

I wake with sunshine in my eyes
And find the morning blue,
A night of dreams behind me lies
And all were dreams of you!
Ah, how I wish the while I rise,
That what I dream were true.

The weary day's laborious pace,
I hasten and beguile
By fancies, which I backwards trace
To things I loved erstwhile;
The weary sweetness of your face,
Your faint, illusive smile.

The silken softness of your hair
Where faint bronze shadows are,
Your strangely slight and youthful air,
No passions seem to mar,--
Oh, why, since Fate has made you fair,
Must Fortune keep you far?

Thus spent, the day so long and bright
Less hot and brilliant seems,
Till in a final flare of light
The sun withdraws his beams.
Then, in the coolness of the night,
I meet you in my dreams!

Second Song

How much I loved that way you had
Of smiling most, when very sad,
A smile which carried tender hints
Of delicate tints
And warbling birds,
Of sun and spring,
And yet, more than all other thing,
Of Weariness beyond all Words!

None other ever smiled that way,
None that I know,--
The essence of all Gaiety lay,
Of all mad mirth that men may know,
In that sad sm