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… The cruel sea its final billow rears And I must pass to seek an unknown sky ; We dare not see each other’s face for tears, And the last kisses—Did we only die ! Love ! Ah ! One kiss ! One kiss ! One kiss ! Good-by, Good-by ! 54
These press upon my lips What lips of flame To burn me, unless slips Some cooler kiss, from shame Washed clean by God’s desire, To save me from their fire— Those kiss me and respire The perfume of the Name. Remorse and terror banished By pitying lovers, Who from my eyes have vanished, (The Lidless Eye discovers), Repenting souls that turn, Whose hearts with pity burn For me, who now discern Their love around me hovers. Their love wards from my head The furious hate Of those loves doubly dead That may not pass the gate : 84
…rey, A perfumed melancholy mist, Tears sacred from the day ; And awe, a holiness, I wist, More sweet than man may say. I bend my head to kiss the brow, Scarred and serene and wide, The bosom and the loin-cloth now And where the blood has dried, The blood whose purple tide doth flow From out the smitten side. The fragrance of his skin begets Desire of holy things ; 91
…fill The dreams that haunt my head. I sing strange stories of that world No man may ever see ; My lips with strong delight are curled To kiss the sacred knee, 92
THE STORM. IN the storm that divides the wild night from the passionate kiss of the morning Stands there a tower by the sea unshaken by wave and by wind, Lightning assails, and the sea breaks vain on the battlements, scorning Even to fling back the foam shattered before and behind, Save for one window its height rears up unbroken and blind. Here may a man gaze out to the night by the stars of it stricken, Out to the blind black air that the lightning divides and is dumb ; Here, and look back in the tower where pallid shades murmur and quicken, …
…er melodies Of pity. Lay them there, and when the sky Opens a lingering eyelash of deep cloud, And the sea sparkles out from under it To kiss the earth into awakening From the dream-slumbers that its fancies weave— Fancies of starlight on the lucent sea Gleaming from wide horizon to the feet Of Cynthia’s bow, all silver-shot with fire, That virgin flame that lingers evermore 32
The Spirit of Jehovah, like a dove On wings of love, Breathe the sweet kiss, a sacrament untold, And clothe the heart’s desire with flames of gold. No rash Icarian wing this passion plies, But sanctifies, As if a censer (that a cherub swings) Blossomed with wings And floated up, an incense-breathing bird, With songs half heard Before the throne of God. Even so this life Of sordid strife Is made most holy, beautiful, and pure, By this desire, if this desire endure. So to the altar of the Highest aspire Those souls whose fire Has on it cast one g…
And stream beneath their curtain are em- braced ; They drive and beat and hiss, Till their cold maiden kiss Touches the lake’s intolerable waste, And from the wave is born A maiden like the morn, In sudden foam, an Aphrodite chaste, Clean as the cold wind blown From each abyss of stone, Where the north whirlpool rushes down with wreckage interlaced. Where on the bank I stand In this gray barren land Of winter, and the doubtful glint of spring, If on the hills there glow Through the thick mist of snow Sunshine from westward in the evening ; Whil…
He kissed the blossom, and bent very low, And put it to her lips—and even so His lips were set on them ; the flower sighed For deep delight, and in the long kiss died. Years fled and faded, yet a flower was seen Gracious and comely in its nest of green, And tender hands would water it and say “ O happy sister, she that went away ! “ For she brought back my lover to my heart, And knew her work was perfect, and her part Most perfect when she died between the breath, And in the bridal kisses kissed to death.” So grew the newer blossom and was glad…
Stretching her arms to his breast, reaching her lips to his face, Lips that should grant but one kiss ere the demons descended and tore him Limb from wet limb, and devoured, and bore this stained soul into space Far from the regions of hope and the lands that are holy with grace. Alway the battle proceeds and alway the tempest re-quickens, Pregnant with thunder, delivered when the swift knife is let flash ; Alway the wind has its will and the slaughter-steam rises and thickens, Alway the sea is a lion, enraged by the wind and its lash, Alway th…
…y the window is dark ; only there hangs like a veil Sleep on the chamber and clings. Heard I a woman-fiend wail ? Heard I the sound of a kiss ? Has man been destroyed in the daylight, Man whom the night could not quell ? What angel fled weeping away ? There in the East there extends a white light devouring the grey light, There the sun rises and brings hope with the dawn of the day, Silence hides certainty—surely voices of angels that pray, Surely the sound of delight, and of praise, and unspeakable glory Rings in the wind like a bell, and wake…
… chiefest witness, and who wove The myriad atoms of Infinitude Into the solid tapestry of night, And gave the sun his heat, and bade him kiss 17
…liss. Love, God be with you ! He is overhead And watches us, that nothing be amiss— Love ! our hearts bleed as one in the last lingering kiss. 53
…n the woods, Where the small floweret, hidden by the maze O’ th’ dying children o’ the copper-beech, Lifts a blue forehead to the sun to kiss— Fancies of old romance too pitiful For any delicate quill to light upon— Yes, when the sky from stainless ebony Merges in azure, like as if the light Of stars had melted into all the black To gladden it, O then the solemn hush Of morning shall behold the silent grave, And wait a moment in rich worshipping Of Love, creator of the world’s delight, Till the full chorus of the spirits of fire, Whose mighty s…
… palest brow ; the nails drip blood ; There is the wound ; no Mary by Him mourns, There is no John beside the cruel wood ; I am alone to kiss the silver lips ; I rend my clothing for the temple veil ; My heart’s black night must act the sun’s eclipse ; My groans must play the earthquake, till I quail At my own dark imagining ; and now The wind is bitterer ; the air breeds snow ; 6