You are the safe and firelit room,
I am the open wold.
You are the city, and this your doom-
Never to feel the outer cold,
Never to fear the inner dark,
Never to strain the ears and hark
For any foot but the foot of Time,
Never to know a loss worth gain
Or soul that's worth the birthing-pain,
Never to find hill worth the climb
Or joy that may be worth the tear-
My Dear!
You are shut in from snow and sleet,
I am out in the wind.
My feet are strange to the trodden street
As you are strange to the winds that beat,
The mists that hover and blind.
I cannot stay, you cannot bind:
My hands unclasp and let you go,
As if you were no more than snow
That slips away from me in rain.
I love you, yet our souls are twain,
For I am knowledge, you are fear,
My Dear.