Song [Let us be lovers to the end]

Introduction

This poem was probably written when Wharton was in her early thirties, but never published. We can’t know whom she had in mind when she composed it. The mood is deepened by the use of sound and meter.

Song [Let us be lovers to the end]

Let us be lovers to the end,
O you to whom my soul is given,
Whose smiles have turned this earth to heaven,
Fast holding hands as we descend
Life’s pathway devious and uneven,
Let us be lovers to the end.

Dear, let us make of Time a friend
To bind us closer with his cares,
And though grief strike us unawares
No poisoned shaft that fate can send
Shall wound us through each other’s prayers,
If we are lovers to the end.

Let us be lovers to the end
And, growing blind as we grow old,
Refuse forever to behold
How age has made the shoulders bend
And Winter blanched the hair’s young gold.
Let us be lovers to the end.

Whichever way our footsteps tend
Be sure that, if we walk together,
They’ll lead to realms of sunny weather,
By shores where quiet waters wend.
At eventide we shall go thither,
If we are lovers to the end.