Far Woman

Because you are far, fair woman, and away
where mad monks marry,
as, perhaps, they do,
you cannot close my longing
inside your cave.
It will not sing celestial,
nor will my soul.

And, yet, far woman, not forgetting when,
each time you cried,
shortened up the strand
and drew us closer,
so that even now
while the reach is long,
it pulls my hand.