 | Fantasy and Passion |  |
AFFINITIES.
I.
Speeding across blank wastes of lonely snow
From your pale palace, reared with wild device
In a wild shadowy land of Arctic ice,
O North-wind, bitter North-wind, whither do you blow?
From your pale palace, reared with wild device
In a wild shadowy land of Arctic ice,
O North-wind, bitter North-wind, whither do you blow?
“Southward to find my tender languid love,
Who drowses in a clime of tropic haze,
Where, through the heavy-odored stagnant nights,
Great mellow fervid stars beam out above,
And where one sees, through sultry golden days,
The mighty Indian temples rear proud heights
And the rich-crested palm her green plume raise!
And I, the spirit strong to wreck and kill,
I, the stern North-wind, terrible to chill,
When her warm kisses through these cold lips thrill,
I have no will that is not her sweet will!”
Who drowses in a clime of tropic haze,
Where, through the heavy-odored stagnant nights,
Great mellow fervid stars beam out above,
And where one sees, through sultry golden days,
The mighty Indian temples rear proud heights
And the rich-crested palm her green plume raise!
8
I, the stern North-wind, terrible to chill,
When her warm kisses through these cold lips thrill,
I have no will that is not her sweet will!”
II.
Bearing to lavish leaves your cadence low,
From far off indolent lands of bloomful ease,
Of gaudy birds and iridescent seas,
O South-wind, fragrant South-wind, whither do you blow?
From far off indolent lands of bloomful ease,
Of gaudy birds and iridescent seas,
O South-wind, fragrant South-wind, whither do you blow?
“Northward to find my cruel white-limbed love,
Who dwells where all strange polar glories blaze;
Where, through the scintillant-starred long-lasting nights,
Auroral splendors up the dark heaven move,
And where one sees, through scant-lit freezing days,
Colossal ice-plinths, full of emerald lights,
House the huge walrus in their crystal maze!
And I, the spirit whom all soft dreams fill,
I, the bland South-wind, that can work no ill,
When her cold kisses through these warm lips thrill,
My life grows her life, and my will her will!”
Who dwells where all strange polar glories blaze;
Where, through the scintillant-starred long-lasting nights,
Auroral splendors up the dark heaven move,
And where one sees, through scant-lit freezing days,
Colossal ice-plinths, full of emerald lights,
House the huge walrus in their crystal maze!
And I, the spirit whom all soft dreams fill,
I, the bland South-wind, that can work no ill,
When her cold kisses through these warm lips thrill,
My life grows her life, and my will her will!”
| Fantasy and Passion | |