The Perfect Present

SO I have kissed you! And this hour is mine.
 Its light along the level future lasts,
 It crowns a drab eternity of Pasts!
 Here soul and soul have crossed the border-line
 Of self, and merged. No years can e'er untwine
 This hour from us! What though to-morrow casts
 The memory out, and your cold glance contrasts
 With this day's rich red lips, need I repine?  
  No. I have kissed you! And the brief warm flower
 Born of our lips perfumes eternity.
 From the long loneliness that silently
 Stretches behind, before, I am content
 To cull this blossom of one perfect hour—
 To snatch one star from Time's deep firmament!