 | The Marriage Before Death, And Other Poems |  |
II.—PASSION'S MYSTICISM.
Of manhood's fierce addresses, and womanhood's caresses;
Of sultry summer sunshine, and the winds of spring;
For those that follow after, a tale of tears and laughter,
A tale of joy and sorrow, I will set myself to sing.
Of sultry summer sunshine, and the winds of spring;
For those that follow after, a tale of tears and laughter,
A tale of joy and sorrow, I will set myself to sing.
Once in time I met a woman, queenliest queen of all things human,
Queen of earth and queen of ocean, queen of fire and queen of air;
Before her bent my being, bowed in uttermost devotion,—
The crown of all things beautiful, the fairest of the fair.
Queen of earth and queen of ocean, queen of fire and queen of air;
Before her bent my being, bowed in uttermost devotion,—
The crown of all things beautiful, the fairest of the fair.
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My darling, O my sweet one; if I never may possess you,
Let me greet you on the paper with blown kisses of my rhymes;
Let me still the frantic longing but to see you and caress you,
By fancying sweet lip-kisses, pressed a thousand, thousand times!
Let me greet you on the paper with blown kisses of my rhymes;
Let me still the frantic longing but to see you and caress you,
By fancying sweet lip-kisses, pressed a thousand, thousand times!
Oh, I long for her—I seek her! in the night-time I am dreaming
Of the tresses that elude me, and the hands that fly by day!
Yearning to embrace the fickle, hopeless fancies round me streaming!
Craving to possess and clasp and press the ghost to which I pray!
Of the tresses that elude me, and the hands that fly by day!
Yearning to embrace the fickle, hopeless fancies round me streaming!
Craving to possess and clasp and press the ghost to which I pray!
To inform her with mine image! to feel her flowing through me
With softly soothing current of electrical delight!
Absorbed into each other, ghostly sister—ghostly brother,
Phantom mixing into phantom, wedded spirits of the night!
With softly soothing current of electrical delight!
Absorbed into each other, ghostly sister—ghostly brother,
Phantom mixing into phantom, wedded spirits of the night!
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As a smoke-wreath writhes and eddies, so her being writhes around me—
Clasps my body, clasps my spirit, clasps my fancy, clasps my mind;
Till my brain, instead of thinking, sits deliriously drinking
Deepest death-draughts of emotion, making deaf and dumb and blind.
Clasps my body, clasps my spirit, clasps my fancy, clasps my mind;
Till my brain, instead of thinking, sits deliriously drinking
Deepest death-draughts of emotion, making deaf and dumb and blind.
So I swoon on for ever, without shadow of endeavour,
As a passively-receiving image well content to serve:
While her presence winds about me, stealing stealthily throughout me—
Wakening musical re-echo of response in every nerve.
As a passively-receiving image well content to serve:
While her presence winds about me, stealing stealthily throughout me—
Wakening musical re-echo of response in every nerve.
Yielding up, without resistance, individual existence,
With every gate of being thrown wide open to receive,
First, a consciousness of Alice—second, of the great world-palace,
With its rainbow-rippling echoes—in full triumph I achieve.
With every gate of being thrown wide open to receive,
First, a consciousness of Alice—second, of the great world-palace,
With its rainbow-rippling echoes—in full triumph I achieve.
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As a river to the ocean, with mute majesty of motion,
Rolls the river of her consciousness convolving into mine—
And our consciousnesses plighted, in a bridal band united,
Roam from region unto region, a world-consciousness to twine.
Rolls the river of her consciousness convolving into mine—
And our consciousnesses plighted, in a bridal band united,
Roam from region unto region, a world-consciousness to twine.
In a vision laid before me, as in German mystic story,
Lying naked, bare and open, the world-mystery I see;
Sweeping through my eyelid portals, rush the loves and hates of mortals,
Rush the loves of man and woman, past and present and to be.
Lying naked, bare and open, the world-mystery I see;
Sweeping through my eyelid portals, rush the loves and hates of mortals,
Rush the loves of man and woman, past and present and to be.
In a moment, in a twinkling, as if from magic sprinkling
Of wondrous magician, fall the scales from off my eyes;
Roofs of houses are uplifted, and partition-walls are shifted,
And the people are transparent, and dim worldvisions rise.
Of wondrous magician, fall the scales from off my eyes;
Roofs of houses are uplifted, and partition-walls are shifted,
And the people are transparent, and dim worldvisions rise.
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Even such a mighty waking, from the love of thee is shaking
Its glorious powers throughout me—from the love of one sweet soul,
With majesty and terror, revealing every error,
Unfolding every beauty—no portion, but the whole.
Its glorious powers throughout me—from the love of one sweet soul,
With majesty and terror, revealing every error,
Unfolding every beauty—no portion, but the whole.
| The Marriage Before Death, And Other Poems | |