'I wish that he were come to me, For he will come,' she said. "Have I not prayed in heaven?-on earth, Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd? Are not two prayers a perfect strength? 'When round his head the aureole clings, And he is clothed in white, I'll take his hand and go with him We will step down as to a stream, 'We two will stand beside the shrine, Whose lamps are stirred continually "We two will lie i' the shadow of That living mystic tree Within whose secret growth the Dove Is sometimes felt to be, While every leaf that His plumes touch Saith His Name audibly. 'And I myself will teach to him, I myself, lying so, The songs I sing here; which his voice (Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st! That once of old. But shall God lift To endless unity The soul whose likeness with thy soul Was but its love for thee?) 'We two,' she said, 'will seek the groves Where the lady Mary is, With her five handmaidens, whose names 'Circlewise sit they, with bound locks And foreheads garlanded; Into the fine cloth white like flame To fashion the birth-robes for them 'He shall fear, haply, and be dumb: To his, and tell about our love, 'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand, And angels meeting us shall sing 'There will I ask of Christ the Lord Only to live as once on earth With Love, only to be, As then awhile, for ever now She gazed and listened and then said, 'All this is when he comes.' She ceased. The light thrilled towards her, fill'd With angels in strong level flight. Her eyes prayed, and she smil'd. (I saw her smile.) But soon their path And then she cast her arms along And laid her face between her hands LOVE ENTHRONED. I marked all kindred Powers the heart finds fair :- And Youth, with still some single golden hair Love's throne was not with these; but far above And Youth be dear, and Life be sweet to love. LOVE'S NOCTURN. Master of the murmuring courts Where the shapes of sleep convene !— Lo my spirit here exhorts All the powers of thy demesne For their aid to woo my queen. Yield thy jealous courts unseen? Vaporous unaccountable, Dreamland lies forlorn of light, Ah! that from all dreams I might What her sleep should tell to-night. There the dreams are multitudes: Some whose buoyance waits not sleep, Deep within the August woods; Some that hum while rest may steep Weary labour laid a-heap; Interludes, Some, of grievous moods that weep. Poets' fancies all are there: There the elf-girls flood with wings Valleys full of plaintive air; There breathe perfumes; there in rings Whirl the foam-bewildered springs; Siren there Winds her dizzy hair and sings. Thence the one dream mutually Dreamed in bridal unison, Less than waking ecstasy; Half-formed visions that make moan In the house of birth alone; At death's wicket see, unknown. But for mine own sleep, it lies In one gracious form's control, Fair with honourable eyes, Wherein Love descries his goal. Reft of her, my dreams are all Clammy trance that fears the sky: Changing footpaths shift and fall; From polluted coverts nigh, Miserable phantoms sigh; Quakes the pall, And the funeral goes by. Master, is it soothly said That, as echoes of man's speech Far in secret clefts are made, So do all men's bodies reach Shadows o'er thy sunken beach,Shape or shade In those halls pourtrayed of each? Ah! might I, by thy good grace Send it from that place to her! Nay, not I; but oh! do thou, Feel its presence bow like wind. Where in groves the gracile Spring Trembles, with mute orison Confidently strengthening, Water's voice and wind's as one Shed an echo in the sun. Soft as Spring Master, bid it sing and moan. |