IF I LEAVE ALL FOR THEE

1 If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
2 And be all to me? Shall I never miss
3 Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss
4 That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,
5 When I look up, to drop on a new range
6 Of walls and floors ... another home than this?
7 Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is
8 Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change?
9 That's hardest. If to conquer love, has tried,
10 To conquer grief, tries more ... as all things prove;
11 For grief indeed is love and grief beside.
12 Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love.
13 Yet love me--wilt thou? Open thine heart wide,
14 And fold within, the wet wings of thy dove.