Alice: An Adultery

That the light of heaven is shaded, The sound of the sea is made still, The climax shall come unupbraided Obedient alone to our will, And the flowers that were fallen and faded drink dew to their fill : Dew filling your eyes and their lashes With tender mirage of a tear ; Dew fallen on the mouth as it flashes, The kiss that is master of fear ; Dew covering the body that dashes and clings to me here. O fairest, O rose among roses ! O flower of the innermost fire ! O tune of my soul that encloses All life, the tempestuous lyre ! O dawn of my dawn that reposes and darts in desire ! And death and its portals are rifted, Life listens our kisses that weep ; Love hears, and his measure is shifted, Grows solemn and deadly and deep ; Love’s ship droops its sails and is drifted in silence to sleep. 51