I Found A Few Old Letters

XIV
I found a few old letters of mine carefully hidden in thy box—a few small toys for thy
memory to play with. With a timorous heart thou didst try to steal these trifles from
the turbulent stream of time which washes away planets and stars, and didst say,
“These are only mine!” Alas, there is no one now who can claim them—who is able to
pay their price; yet they are still here. Is there no love in this world to rescue thee
from utter loss, even like this love of thine that saved these letters with such fond
care?
O woman, thou camest for a moment to my side and touched me with the great
mystery of the woman that there is in the heart of creation—she who ever gives back
to God his own outflow of sweetness; who is the eternal love and beauty and youth;
who dances in bubbling streams and sings in the morning light; who with heaving
waves suckles the thirsty earth and whose mercy melts in rain; in whom the eternal
one breaks in two in joy that can contain itself no more and overflows in the pain of
love.