Cross Roads

III. THE RAIN OUTSIDE

     You close beside me, and outside, the rain,
        Which, stealing through the darkness of the night,
        Seems tapping out with fingers softly light,
     A world-old song upon my window pane—
     A song of happiness with a refrain
        That throbs in suffering.  You hold me tight,
        Your eyes, that search my own, are warmly bright,
     Your lips touch mine again, and yet again!

     Ah, what though years must pass, though you and I
        May live our lives, quite silently, apart?
     Whenever rain comes, when the day is through,
     And, tapping on my casement, seems to sigh,
        A dream will blossom, fragrant, in my heart,
     A dream of youth eternal, and of—you.