The Bond

Beloved, and Stranger to me than my foe,
And nearer to me than my breath, and my peace and my strife,
What is it that binds us straitly together? Life;
Body to body: soul to soul, do I know?
I know that your hands speak to my hands, and my hands
Speak to your hands with an irresistible desire;
We are blown together as fire is blown into fire,
We return as the wandering tide returns to the sands.
Is it love, is it longing? I know not, care not, alas!
Something cries, and a cry answers a cry.
If I speak, you hear in your heart; when you call, it is I:
Soul of my life, let us live! for the hours pass.