Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems including a Reprint of Echoes from Theocritus: By Wilfred Austin Gill: With a Critical Estimate of the Sonnets by the late John Addington Symonds |
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 | Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems |  |
146
XCVII
REVERENCE
Behold, and touch not; worship, and refrain.
Kneel in the outer court, nor hotly bring
Too near the Radiance thy frail offering,
Which is thyself. Fond heart, what couldst thou gain
By creeping closer? Nay; let be; remain;
Between thy love and the Belovèd thing
Keep still a space for rapt imagining,
Lest languor seize thee, and a subtle pain.
Thou art a man. Be human and content.
Not thine to breathe a supersensual air
Or snatch the heart of bliss. Thy joys are lent
To teach thee how to greet them and to spare:
As some grey prophet with his head low bent
Will give to Beauty blessing—all he dare.
April 1891.
| Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems | |