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Page 1 of 11903 · PDF PAGE 81
THE TWENTY-SIXTH DAY “ I think the devil will not have me damned. . . . he would never else cross me thus.” Merry Wives of Windsor. This time she set her will against my will ; Swore that she would not come : in my despair 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 Orph…
1903 · PDF PAGE 87
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY “ But I perceive in you so excellent a touch of modesty that you will not extort from me what I am willing to keep in.” Twelfth-Night. A curious conflict this of love and fear, Honour and lust, and truth and trust beguiled ; One in the semblance of a rose-bright child :— The other in a shape more gross and clear, A fiercer woman-figure crowned severe With garlands woven of scourges, but whose wild Breast beat with splendour of sin, whose looks were mild, Hiding the cruel smile behind a tear. So she : “ I now you never woul…
1903 · PDF PAGE 5
quarter of the city, which is, after all, Yama, and equally handy for the consul, the chaplain, and the doctor, readers of Rossetti will expect no ex- cuse ; for their sakes I may frankly admit that I was actuated by other motives than interest and solicitude for my companion, a youth still blindly groping for Romance, beneath the skirts of tawdry and painted Vice. Perhaps I may have hoped to save him from what men call the graver and angels the lesser consequences of his folly. This for the others. As to the character of the mansion at which w…
1903 · PDF PAGE 14
… also in “ At Last,” “ Love and Fear,” and “ Lethe,” one or more whole lines have been almost im- possible to read. The literary student will be able readily to detect my patchwork emendations. These I have dared to make because his whole pattern (may I use the word ?) is so elaborate and perfect that I fear to annoy the reader by leaving any blanks, feeling that my own poverty of diction will be less noticeable than any actual hiatus in the sense or rhythm. I attempt neither eulogy nor criticism here. Indeed, it seems to me entirely uncalled f…
1903 · PDF PAGE 47
…th a brighter element Of fancy free to wander far and wide. For as I followed by the shore and bended Over her footsteps in the wood, my will Rose to high strength assertive and transcended The petty forms of the seducer’s skill. Chaste love strode forth, a warrior’s stern and splendid Determined footsteps on the Arcadian Hill. 27
1903 · PDF PAGE 91
THE THIRTY-FIRST DAY “ You whoreson villain ! will you let it fall ?” Taming of the Shrew. The inexpiable fate whose shuddering wing Fear fled from, changed the native deed of sin Into a spasmic kiss too salt and keen, Windless, that ended with a sterile sting The earlier hour whose heart was full of spring ; And the large love grew piteously lean ; Dreadful, like death ; withdrawn and epicene At the mad crisis of the eventful thing. O that such tender fondness like a flower’s Should take such nameless infamy ! That we Should pluck such bitter …
1903 · PDF PAGE 51
THE NINTH DAY “ How canst thou tell she will deny thy Before thou make a trial of her love ? ” 1 Henry VI. I was most weary of my work : the mind Shuddered at all the wonders it had written, And the whole body by the spirit smitten Groaned : so I went and left my love behind, Danced the gross “ hula,” hardly disinclined, By a new lust emphatically bitten ; And so in flames at harlot glances litten I sought that solace I shall never find. Fool ! not to tell her. Triple fool to fly The sunny glance, the moonlight meditation, For even the light of…
1903 · PDF PAGE 100
…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 cosmic space we wander Alive, the sun’s beam mixing with the moon’s. 80
1903 · PDF PAGE 77
THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY “ I’ll have her : but I will not keep her long.” Richard III It was impossible that she should come Over the leagues of summer-coloured sea Alone with love and laughter and tears and me To the toy land of the chrysanthemum, Where all the flowers lack scent, the birds are dumb, The fruits are tasteless : where the jewelled lea And the many-leavéd greenery Is dwarf : French gem-work on a baby’s thumb. The Yankee God frowned also on the plan. We had enough, no more. But I insist, Still thinking I was master of my heart : Sayi…
1903 · PDF PAGE 4
…ew years after reading that incredible tale, I myself, at Yokohama, come across a series of circum- stances wonderfully analogous. But I will truth- fully set down this history just as it all happened. I went one memorable Wednesday night to No. 29.* For my advent in this most reputable * Disinclination to marry is congenital in the elect : the Pauline alternative is discountenanced by my doctor. i
1903 · PDF PAGE 10
“ Four days more,” he answered, thrilling with excitement, “ and all my dreams will come true— until I wake. But you can serve me, if indeed—— Did you hear me spouting poetry ?” I nodded, and lit my pipe. He watched me narrowly while the match illuminated my face. “ What poetry ?” I told him Shelley. “ Do you read Ibsen ?” he queried, keening visibly. After a moment’s pause : “ He is the Sophocles of manners,” I said, rewarded royally for months of weary waiting. My strange com- panion sat up transfigured. “ The Hour,” he murmured, “ and the Ma…
1903 · PDF PAGE 62
…p a scornful wing, Seeing our honour stood a citadel. I saw the foolishness of love and saith : “ I am exalted over shame and death, But will not take my fill of death and shame.” For each kiss leaps, a more insistent breath, And adds fresh fuel to the amorous flame, Not quells it—Is not honour but a name ? 42
1903 · PDF PAGE 93
THE THIRTY-THIRD DAY “ Clubs, clubs ! These lovers will not keep the peace.” Titus Andronicus. Nathless she locked her cabin-door to me. All lovers guess the piteous night I passed— Shuddering phantoms, hideous and aghast, Loomed, lust of hate ! toward me : how did she ? She never told : but I might surely see In the drawn face and haggard eyes what vast Voices of misery had held her fast, And made her curse her own lock’s cruelty. So by her beauty and my love we swore, And by the light within mine eyes, by her Sweet shame : that never so we su…
1903 · PDF PAGE 102
… 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. 82
1903 · PDF PAGE 98
…k to the earth and leave the bed sublime, And tune our kisses to a terrene rhyme. So, once again before we left the ship With right good will our bodies cling and slip, And the life’s flame sinks as the kisses climb. There never has been such a supreme kiss Since heaven and earth began to be as this ! Doubt nothing of it ! yet our spirits knew Its savour was as roses fallen to dust : Our proper food was of Selenian dew, And love without a battle conquered lust. 78
1903 · PDF PAGE 12
…oarse anger of drunken harlotry snarled back. “ Not a drop more,” shouted my friend, adding many things*. It was time for my return. “ I will let them know,” I whispered. “ Good- bye.” “ ‘ There is not one thing with another ; But Evil saith to Good : ‘ My brother—’ ” he went on unheeding. I left him to his peace. My re-appearance restored harmony. The * The substance of his remarks, and subsequent adven- tures are detailed in my “ Three Screams at Mid- night.”—ED.
1903 · PDF PAGE 108
THE FORTY-SIXTH DAY “ Because I love you, I will let you know : . . . . . . . my wife . . . . . . . . . . like a fountain with a hundred spouts Did run pure blood.” Julius Caesar. Was it a sense of uttermost relief We gladdened with, and bade our fears forget ? Was there no subtle fragrance of regret ? For me, at least, a pang of perfect grief ? Had it been otherwise, I would be chief And drive her to abandon all things yet In mere despair, that bye and bye shall get Young comfort in a babe beyond belief. God would not curse and bless us to suc…
1903 · PDF PAGE 54
…ts.” The Sonnets. I learnt at last some sort of confidence, Called me the fool I was, knowing my skill Proven of old, all women’s native will To do all things soever that lack sense, Especially if evil : thoughts immense Like this I thought : plumes of my amorous quill I tickled her withal : then grave and still Waited secure : the silence grew intense. She read—and saw me but a beardless boy, Too young to fear, too gentle not to pity, Not overbold ; quite powerless to destroy Her life’s long peace, the ten-year-walléd city. Why be too cruel, c…
1903 · PDF PAGE 71
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…
1903 · PDF PAGE 11
… all the papers which held the story of my life—all save one. That I saved ; the only noble passage, perhaps—among the many notable. Men will say that it is stained ; you, I think, should be wiser. It is the story of how the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. They were not drowned, you know (he seemed to lapse into a day dream), and they came out on the Land of Promise side. But they had to descend therein.” “ They all died in the wilderness,” I said, feeling as if I understood this mystical talk, which, indeed, I did not. But I felt inspired. “ A…