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21 matching pages
Page 1 of 21903 · PDF PAGE 75
…reasted, maiden as the rose of day Dawning on snowy mountains : through deep night Her body gleamed self-luminously white With the sweet soul that sundered the quick clay, And all her being was a sense of May ;— Scent conquering colour, soul out-running sight. Not with the Lysian, nor Iacchian dew Of frenzy covered, but with warmer flakes Of Aphrodite shed upon our life, We clung still closer, till the soul ran through Body to body, twined like sunny snakes, Sinlessly knowing we were man and wife. 55
1903 · PDF PAGE 42
…l Sea. Young palms embowered the house where Beauty sate Still but exultant, silent but elate In its own happiness and majesty Of a mild soul unstirred by rivalry Of any life beyond its own sweet state. I looked around me, wondered whether Fate Had found at last a woman’s love for me. I had no hope : she was so grave and calm, So shining with the dew-light of her soul, So beautiful beyond a woman’s share. Yet—here ! Soft airs, and perfume through the palm, And moonlight in the groves of spice, control The life that would not love and yet be fai…
1903 · PDF PAGE 34
Some blood-stain filtered from the soul ; The light and shadow shed between My soul and God from Messaline. And even as a dark and hidden Furnace roars out in woods forbidden, A sullen tide of molten steel Runs from deep furrows in the wheel ; So from afar one central heat Sends the loud pulse to fever beat ; So from one crown and heart of fire Spring the vast phantoms of desire, Impossible and epicene, Familiar souls of Messaline. And as, when thunder broods afar Imperial destinies of war, Men see the haze and heat, and feel The sun’s rays lik…
1903 · PDF PAGE 55
… My great love’s lifted wing Weakens, unwearying, And droops with me, Seeing the sun-kindled hair Close in the face more fair, The sweet soul shining there For God to see. 35
1903 · PDF PAGE 28
… red sun, A sight to slay or stun ; Sepulchral dews Fall from the rayless globe, Whose sightless fingers probe My golden-folded robe, My soul’s misuse. 6
1903 · PDF PAGE 56
…n head, Ephemeral flowers ! I yearn, not comforted. My heart has vainly bled Through age-long hours. To thee my spirit turns ; My bright soul aches and burns, As a dry valley yearns For spring and showers. Splendid, remote, a fane Alone and unprofane, I know thy breast. These bitter tears of pain Flood me, and fall again Not into rest. Me, whose sole purpose is To gain one gainless kiss, And make a bird’s my bliss, Shrined in that nest. 36
1903 · PDF PAGE 30
…el jaw Hides me in the glutless maw— Crown of ten blisses ! For all the vision world Is closed on me and curled Into the deep Of my slow soul, and hurled Through lampless lands, and furled, Sharp folds and steep : Till all unite in one, Seven planets in the sun, And I am deeplier done Into full sleep. 8
1903 · PDF PAGE 100
…nvisible.” Venus and Adonis. Note from this day no possible event. All secrets told, and all desires fulfilled, Primitive passion of our soul have killed. We dwell within a calmer element Perfectly pure and perfectly content. The subtler splendour of our love has stilled Those sombre glories that it never meant, Those giant meanings that it never meant. Fire only is our substance ; there we dwell, The Salamandrine with the Salamander. No fuel to crack, no water to make tunes, No air to blow us hither and thither ; well ! At our own will through…
1903 · PDF PAGE 16
…e made on laying down the MS. submitted for our judgment was that it is always doubtful how far a man is justified in stripping bare his soul for the public benefit. “ Shall I sonnet-sing you about myself?” asks Browning ; “ unlock my heart with a sonnet- key ?” And his answer is :— “ With this same key Shakespeare unlocked his heart,” once more ! Did Shakespeare ? If so, the less shakespeare he !” Very well ; but Browning himself went even farther, and permitted the posthumous publication of the actual love letters that passed between himself …
1903 · PDF PAGE 49
…t given of Mercury to cleanse the stain Of the old planet : thus I wrote me plain Secrets divine—tremendous, terrible ! Thus I forgot my soul and dwelt alone In the strong fortress of the active mind Whose steady flame burned eager in the night ; Yet was some shadow on the starry throne, Some imperfection playing hoodman-blind So that I saw not perfectly aright. 29
1903 · PDF PAGE 109
… Athens. The little money that we had to spend Was gone long since : the little more I stole Followed : I pledged than all things but my soul (On which the usurers refused to lend) To raise our utmost, till a ship should send Much plenty from the Sunset : to control And stop her yet a little while, the whole I meant to waste before the week should end. Thus we went Northward to the capital, Desolate huts and ways funereal, An hateful town ; earthquake and heat and rain Made the place wretched, did not love enchain There even as here : what matt…
1903 · PDF PAGE 43
…d 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. 23
1903 · PDF PAGE 89
… we were good friends again. Therefore at night I added nothing new : Only a little while I lay with her And with mere kisses sucked her soul away, And made my banquet of immortal dew, Demanding nothing but to minister To her desire until the dawn grew grey. 69
1903 · PDF PAGE 95
…at is the humour of it, but adieu.” King Henry V. The third time bitterly came reason back. Is it a fault in love when mornings find The soul grown sober and rethroned the mind ? Or is it mere necessity to track The candid chequer cross-wise to the black, And love, not mutable, yet well inclined To take his pleasure in becoming blind After such sight mere day is wont to lack. So we were angry with ourselves and said We would not kiss—two days, and we would part. And she prayed heaven that she might be dead, And I cursed heaven and my foolish he…
1903 · PDF PAGE 102
…, lay in bed, While my love smoothed the pillows for my head : Her calm looks christened me with dew to still All chance of fever to the soul, and fill My heart with pure love like a snowfall shed Meekly, a blossom where frail white and red Were never frenzied at some mad god’s will. She sat and gazed upon me all day long. Sometimes she held my hands ; then she would weep, And then stoop tenderly and kiss my lips, Or lull me with some chaste and gentle song Of angel love. Night’s plume its dewfall drips As she still sits and watches me to sleep…
1903 · PDF PAGE 106
…orn of strings intangible, of spheres Shaken of love, a mightier music’s might Frailer to sound than dewfall is to sight ! Wake, O sweet soul incorporate of tears ! Or else dream on and let no tears begem Love’s crown of thorns, ensanguine diadem, But let pale kisses blossom, starry shrine Of lips most deathlike, that endure divine Past sleep’s, or parting’s, or death’s spoil of them In the pomegranate walks of Proserpine ! 86
1903 · PDF PAGE 78
…ed His language in his tears.” K. Hen. VIII My comedy has changed its blithe aspect To bitterest face of tragedy ; she said : “ Alas ! O soul of mine ! I am surely dead, Seeing my life is by a serpent wrecked Of sore disease : but spare me, and reflect That in few months I die : but were I wed— O lover ! O desire discomfited ! I die at once : consider, and elect.” How could I otherwise than spare my wife ? With tender lips and fingers one strong kiss Swooned slave-wise even before the gate of bliss, No more : for I rose up and cursed my life, H…
1903 · PDF PAGE 32
… of Messaline. The heart’s blood in her boiling over She sucked from many a dying lover : The purple of her racing veins Leapt from some soul’s despairing pains ; She drinks up life as from a cup ; 10
1903 · PDF PAGE 81
…air I half believed her an enchantress fair Cruel as hell and dowered with subtle skill To strain my life out with her love, and kill My soul with misery : suddenly a rare Swift smile set shimmering all the ambient air, And then I knew she was my true love still. She would not come ? Why, were Hell’s portals fast Shut, as to Orpheus on Eurydice, Their brass would break before love’s gold and steel, The sharpness inlaid with sweet tracery Of talismans of virtue : she is leal To come and live and be my love at last. 61
1903 · PDF PAGE 88
… eyes burned into her mild ones : limbs Twined to each other while fine dew bedims Their quivering skins : lip fastened unto lip : Whole soul and body frenzied meet and clip ; And the breath staggers, and the life-blood swims ! Terrible gods chant black demoniac hymns As the frail cords of honour strain and slip. For in the midst of that tremendous tide The mighty vigour of a god was mine ! Drunk with desire, her lamentations died. The dove gave place a moment to the swine ! Rapturous draughts of madness ! Out she sighed Uttermost life’s love, …