An Hour

You only promised me a single hour:
  But in that hour I journeyed through a year
  Of life: the joy of finding you⁠—the fear
Of losing you again⁠—the sense of power
To make you all my own⁠—the sudden shower
  Of tears that came because you were more dear
  Than words could ever tell you⁠—then⁠—the clear
Soft rapture when I plucked love’s crimson flower.

An hour⁠—a year⁠—I felt your bosom rise
  And fall with mystic tides, and saw the gleam
Of undiscovered stars within your eyes⁠—
  A year⁠—an hour? I knew not, for the stream
Of love had carried me to Paradise,
  Where all the forms of Time are like a dream.