XXX
THE EQUINOX
And thou, sole star in my black firmamentl
Thou, night that wraps me close, thou, moon that
glimmers
Chaste, yet embraced, serenest element
Lapping my life as the sea laps a swimmer’s;
Thou, by whose strength and purity and love
I leave this land, attain to the above,
Come thou rose—red, break on my soul like dawn
And gild my peaks, and bid their fountains flow;
For in thine absence all their life withdrawn
Congealed my being to a sterile snow,
Snow fallen from some accursed star to ban
All the high hope and heritage 01 man.
Come thou, a gleaming goddess of pure pearl,
Price of mine homage to the great glad god!
Come, saint and satyr praise alike the girl
Who to my whole life put the period
01 all fulfilment, whose prophetic breath
Girds me with life, and garlands me with death
Come, be thy magic in the rime and rhythm,
Until the sea sways to the tender tune,
And the Winds whisper, and the leaves wave with them,
The leaves wherethrough we look upon the moon,
So that men hear me 01 the world within
Secure from sorrow, sanctified from sin,