Once by the sea her lips, laid hushed on mine,
Stirred faintly, saying, 'I love thee!' Here, how still!
Nor in her eyes is that unchanging thrill
As of the starlight, solemn and divine,
Death being possessed of them, for if they shine,
'T is by a sea that other shadows fill,
Where foileth ever her pursuing will
The unapproachable horizon line.

Alas! if irretrievably we part . . .
The spirit boweth with her weight of fears.
Ah! met again within the farther years,
Shall I not know thee for the ghost thou art?
Or will there be no wonder at the heart
And sudden starlight in remembering tears?