Read "Nepenthe" by Henry van Dyke online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Yes, it was like you to forget, / And cancel in the welcome of your smile / My deep arrears of debt, / And with the putting forth of both your hands / To sweep away the bars my folly set / Between us -- bitter thoughts, and harsh demands, / And reckless deeds that seemed untrue / To love, when all the while / My heart was aching through and through / For you, sweet heart, and only you.
Yet, as I turned to come to you again, / I thought there must be many a mile / Of sorrowful reproach to cross, / And many an hour of mutual pain / To bear, until I could make plain / That all my pride was but the fear of loss, / And all my doubt the shadow of despair / To win a heart so innocent and fair; / And even that which looked most ill / Was but the fever-fret and effort vain / To dull the thirst which you alone could still.