One Lover to Another Said

Come kneel beside me here
Upon this patch of ground
And place your hand near mine
To sense the beating sound:

The pulsing, thriving life
Set underneath the earth --
Though now 'tis but a seed,
There's hope for greater worth.

Is love not like a flow'r,
Woven veins and roots,
A curving spear of pow'r
Which deeper earthward shoots?

And doth it not need patient care
Of fashion much the same,
Whereby, with time, it grows
And heav'nward sets its aim?

May we enact such care
Upon the seed here placed,
May its stem trace the air
And 'pon true love be based.

Chaste hearts that long to love,
Shared silence as we sit,
Ideas exchanged thereof
As prudence doth admit,

A steady drawing near
Of souls once found apart,
The slow retreat of fear:
These be the gardener's art.

Whereupon at length of days,
Then sprouts the bud of love,
Open to the Sun's gold rays,
Of earthly care the source above.