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THE RETURN

WHAT can I give to you
  Who have given me everything?
Can I rob the sky of its blue?
   Can I take the green from the spring?
Can I catch the dew as it falls?
   Can I reach the fount of the rain?
Can I snare the foam of the waterfalls
   And their rain-bow mist retain?
Can I enter the tombs of kings
   And their cerements unbind?
Can I steal the Tetrarch's rings
   And Salome's pearls unwind?
Will Helen of Troy give up
   The bracelets from her wrist;
Or Iseult restore the cup
   That Tristram drained and kissed?
They are gone — they are gone, all these —
   And their names, like a small faint rain,
Drift by without surcease
   Across time's grievous plain.
Oh, lonely and classic face,
   My harbour and heathen heaven,
Can I find nothing to replace
   All that to me you've given?
Let these dim shades depart
And their sad faint ghosts go hence.
Out of my heart — my heart —
   I will give you your recompense!