Sonnet II. I love, and loving must love ceaselessly

I love, and loving must love ceaselessly.
So whole a conquest in me love hath won;
My love to Thee, Thy love to me doth run.
In Thee I live, and Thou dost live in me.

Surely the day is nigh when I may flee
From this dark gaol, for ever to have done
With vanity and blind oblivion,
Where, exiled from myself, I use to be.

Earth laughs and sky, green branches and soft air,
The winds are quiet, and the waters still,
No sun before has shed so bright a day;

The gay birds sing, love’s joy is everywhere;
My heart alone has no responsive thrill,
My powers flag and shrink from joy away.