The Love Poems: XXVIII by Emile Verhaeren

Was there in us one fondness, one thought,
one gladness, one promise
that we had not sown before our footsteps?

Was there a prayer heard
in secret whose hands stretched out
gently over our bosom we had not clasped?

Was there one appeal, one purpose,
one tranquil or violent desire
whose pace we had not quickened?

And each loving the other thus,
our hearts went out as apostles to the gentle,
timid and chilled hearts of others;

And by the power of thought invited them
to feel akin to ours, and,
with frank ardours, to proclaim love,
as a host of flowers loves the same branch
that suspends and bathes it in the sun.

And our soul, as though made greater in this awakening,
began to celebrate all that loves,
magnifying love for love's sake,
and to cherish divinely, with a wild desire,
the whole world that is summed up in us.