There is no power to change
One act, one word.
We move in time: these range
Immortal. I have heard

Egypt and her Antony,
With their love first fulfilled,
Cry out, and again cry—
Nor ever are they stilled.

And Sheba I have seen
Bare for her love her breast.
The silken Lesbian queen
Leaves nothing unconfessed.

Though Helen's lips are dust
The kisses of her lips
Must burn the towers, and must
Still launch the thousand ships.

Unspaced, untimed, held fast
Are all things done or undone.
Eternity knows no haste—
In Babylon, or London.

Though they have never moved
These hundred hundred years,
Their rhythm when they loved
Lives ever, and their tears.

When your love's flight shall falter,
Shall fall like a wounded bird,
You too cannot alter
The said or unsaid word.

O passion of wisdom, this
(Helen held it for such):
You cannot unkiss that kiss,
You cannot untouch that touch.