Renouncement

I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong,
   I shun the thought that lurks in all delight—
   The thought of thee—and in the blue Heaven’s height,
And in the sweetest passage of a song.



O just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng
   This breast, the thought of thee waits, hidden yet bright;
   But it must never, never come in sight;
I must stop short of thee the whole day long.



But when sleep comes to close each difficult day,
   When night gives pause to the long watch I keep,
      And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,


Must doff my will as raiment laid away,—
   With the first dream that comes with the first sleep
      I run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart.


Alice Meynell 
(22 September 1847 - 27 November 1922)