Collected Works (Vol. II)

REINCARNATION 65 THE SECOND DAY. ‘* Keep you in the rear of your affection Out of the shot and danger of desire."’ Hamlet. I wAs so hopeless that I turned away And gave my love to foul oblivion, . Shuttered my bosom’s window from the sun, Kindled a corpse-light and proclaimed ‘*The day!” ; Lurked in Aeaean! fens to elude the ray Whose beauty might disturb me: I did shun. The onyx eyes that saw me not as one Possible even for a moment’s play. Thus I was tangled in some house of hell, Giving mine own soul’s beauty up to lust, Hoping to build some fort impregnable Against my love: instead the deep disgust Of my own beasthood crushed it into dust, And left my manhood twisted in her . spell. THE THIRD DAY. ‘* My love is most immaculate white and red, ”’ Love's Labour's Lost, SHE was more graceful than the royal palm ; Tall, with imperial looks, and excellence Most simply swathed in spotless ele- gance, And holy and tuneful like some stately psalm. Her breath was like a grove of myrrh and balm, And all the sight grew dim Lefore the sense Of blind attraction toward; an influence Not incompatible with her own calm. 1.Circe, who dwelt on the island of Aeaea, transformed men into swine. VOL, II. All the red roses of the world were blended To give the lively colour of her face ; All the white lilies of the sea shone splendid Where the blue veins afforded them a space ; Like to the shapely fragrance of dawn’s shrine She gleamed through mist, enchanting, Erycine.! , THE FOURTH DAY. ‘‘Amen, if you love her; for the lady is very well worthy.” Much Ado about Nothing. I TOOK another way to shield my love. I turned my thoughts to the abyss of sky, Pierced the frail veil, and sought Eter- nity ; Where the Gods reign most passionless above All foolish loves of men, and weary of The slow procession of Earth's mystery ; Where worlds, not men, are born and live and die, And aeons flit unnoticed as a dove. Thither I fled, busied myself with these; When—lo! I saw her shadow following ! In every cosmic season-tide of spring She rose, being the spring: in utter peace She was with me and in me: thus I saw Ours was not love, but destiny, and law. REINCARNATION. IN Life what hope is always unto men? Stories of Arthur that shall come again To cleanse the Earth of her eternal stain, Elias, Charlemagne, Christ. What matter then ? 1 At Eryx, in Sicily, was a famous temple of Venus, E