Divided [poem by Louisa Lawson]

[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]

Divided.

Their path had divided, and never again
Would merge into one as before it was twain.
The course of true love had run smoothly until
It suddenly parted, as strong currents will.
But just for a moment — the world is not wide —
They drifted together; the soul and its bride.
And under the spell of affinity’s thrall
A tender love-longing did over them fall;
Which made them to pale in a tremor of fear,
For soul sobbed to soul while the lovers were near;
But she to the right turned, and he to the left,
Still keeping the course pride and anger had cleft.
Which led o’er the breakers of passion and pain
Far out o’er the wide sea of “never again,”
Where no one was ever yet known to forget
The pangs of heart hunger or pain of regret.
In vain did a small voice implore them to stay,
Far pity was not, and they parted for aye.

Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], p. 61

Editor’s notes:
aye = always, forever

cleft = split, parted, or divided (past tense of “cleave”); a crack, crevice, fissure, or narrow opening (especially in the ground, a rock, or a rock formation)

o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)

twain = (archaic) two (from the Old English word “twegen”, meaning “two”); especially known for the phrase “never the twain shall meet” (from the line “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”, as used by the poet Rudyard Kipling, at the start of the poem “The Ballad of East and West”, which was included in Barrack-room Ballads and Other Verses, 1892)

Note: It seems to be unclear what “far pity” refers to; the line “Far pity was not, and they parted for aye” is the same in the 1909 edition (p. 61).