Love, We Must Part Now

Love, we must part now: do not let it be
Calamitious and bitter. In the past
There has been too much moonlight and self-pity;
Let us have done with it, for now at last
Never has sun more boldly paced the sky,
Never were hearts more eager to be free,
To kick down worlds, lash forests; you and I
No longer hold them; we are husks, that see
The grain going forward to a different use.

There is regret. Always, there is regret
But it is better that our lives unloose
As two tall ships, wind-mastered, wet with light
Break from an estuary with their courses set
And waving part, and waving drop from sight.

(1943-44)