Later Sonnets: Lost Threads

HERE lie the lost threads of a tangled life,
Enigmas meaningless and without clue,
Loose ends and knots, frayed edges of time's strife,
Essays in vain love ignorant of you.
Not so had my life been had Heaven's high blue
Apparelled us betimes in its romance,
Clothed us with one fair passion chaste and true,
Armed my weak soul with your dear countenance.
— Rage of my heart ! How idly I declaim,
Now knowing your delights and sweetnesses,
Empty sad verse engarlanding your name.
Great griefs are silent as the wide lone seas ;
Irrevocable loss lives bare of fame.
Else were I eloquent of thee and these.