University of Virginia Library

Like those Ambassadors of old, that went
To some far Orient land, with precious gifts
Of gems to nestle between Beauty's breasts,
And crown her brows with a crest of winking flame,
Or clothe her starrily as Queenly Night;
And found that land a garden where they grew,
Lavish, as all the dews were turned to gems;
So bring I thee, Dear Lady of my love,
My jewels, I have garnered up, to find
How poor they are beside thy peerless wealth.
My Muse! that moveth in a halo of light,
Throned on the regnant heights of Womanhood;
The heart of all thy beauty warm as when
I looked out on the sunny side of Life,
And saw thee summering like a blooming Vine,
That reacheth globes of wine in at the lattice
By the ripe armful, with ambrosial smile.
The flying Cares but touch thy Life's fair face,
Lightly as swimming shadows dusk the Lake.
Come sit thee down, dear, by my side, To-night;
The world shut out, our little world shut in,
Where we are happy as the Bird whose nest
Is heavened in the hush of purple Hills,
Or regioned in the palmy top of life.
Now shut thine eyes, and see a pageant bloom
Upon the dark,—a Vision sweeping by.

I was a dweller amid Shadows grim:
Till Freedom touched my yearning eyes, and lo!
Life in a shining circle, rounding rose,
As heaven on heaven goes up the starry night.
And Freedom was my glittering Bride. For me
She walked the world as a Divinity,
Sang like a Spirit in Life's darkened ways,
I' the Rainbow reached forth girdling arms of love,
To clasp the Unapparent to the Earth,—
Turned common things to beauty: as the sun
Kindles a glory in the grass and dust,—
Went forth flame-plumed, in Chariot sublime,
And rode the winds, as one who walks the worlds.
And when the fresh Morn flowered like a Rose,
Birds sang of her, and all their happy hearts
Rang out in music, Leaves clapped faëry hands,
The flowers for joy stood tearful in her glory,
And World went singing unto World of Freedom.
And I would blazon her heroic name,
Sing such proud pæans as touch the world to tears,
Or chariot it to battle in her Cause:
For O! her softest breath, that might not stir
The summer gossamer tremulous on its throne,
Makes the crowned Tyrants start with realmless looks!
I would have given the lustre of my life
To add one jewel to her diadem!
And then You came, and Love grew lord of all.
Look how the Sun puts out the eyes of fire!
So when Love's royal glance my lattice lit,
The fires of Freedom whitened on my hearth.
The sleeping Beauty in my heart's charmed Palace
Woke at Love's kiss. My life was set aflush,
As Roses redden when the Spring moves by,
And the green buds peer out like eyes, to see
The delicate spirit whose sweet presence stirred them.
How my heart ripened in its flooding spring;
As when the sap runs up the tingling trees,
Till all the sunny life laughs out in leaves,
And lifts its fluttering wings! So my heart felt
With such brave shoots of glory bursting up,
As it had flowered for Immortality.
The heights of Being came out from their cloud,
As the cliffs kindle when the Morning comes
Swimming the utmost Sea in ruddy haste,
With foam of glory; till the flood of light,
Like mellow wine, runs down remotest hills.
You came, my sparkling Bird of Paradise!
With a soft murmuring as of winnowing wings
That fold the nest so dove-like tenderly!
With brows that parted lovely waves of hair,
And took the gazer's eye like some white Grace!
Eyes large with love; lips eloquent of love;
And cheeks fresh-misted with the bloom of Morn.
And thou didst move, a Splendour 'mid Life's Shadows,
Making a Rembrandt Picture. So the Stars
In all their glory pass the shrinking Dark.
O, I was stirred as though a Spirit went by;
Or I had met some awful Loveliness,
That haunts the realm of Dreams, or duskly floats
Across the wondering solitudes of Thought.
So Love grew lord of all.

I touch my lyre,
And Love o'erflows my heart, and floods my hand.
Love makes all dear delights so soothly sweet,
Life pants heart-stifled 'neath its luscious load,
Like young Earth clasped in June's voluptuous arms,
Faint with her fragrance, flooded in her flowers.
Love is divine life, Beauty is its smile.
O, Love will make the killing crown of thorn
Burst into blossom on the Martyr's brow!
Upon Love's bosom Earth floats like an Ark
Through all the o'erwhelming Deluge of the night.
Love rays us round as glory swathes a star,
And, from the mystic touch of lips and palms,
Streams rosy warmth enough to light a world:
And Spirit-eyes, from out the purpling glooms,
Mark how we feed this human Altar-flame;
How speeds this ripening into Deity;
What glittering robes for immortality
Trail starry radiance through our dark of Earth!
And in our home thy presence maketh Love
A Mortal, who hath died to rise again,
Immortal, in its nobler life with thee.

O Love! make clear my vision, roll thou up
My orb of Song from Passion's misting deeps
To climb the heavens, and win the eternal calm;
And though it shine not 'mid the Suns of Song,
To set the World sweet-murmuring in its light,
A Memnon, at the radiant touch of Dawn,
I know each Star hath its own perfect place
Above, though it may have no name on Earth.
I hope my hope, I dream my dream, that life
With me shall yet ring out melodious, 'twixt
The silences of heaven and the grave.

O Labour! blind and feeling for the day!
Might I go forth to peer with eagle ken
Into the blessed land of promise, where
The Future like a fruitfuller Summer sits
Ripening Her Eden silently, to bear
The crowning flower of consummated Life,—
Where Freedom's Song-Birds fly, to build their nests,
And warm to life their brood of darling dreams:
Then see thy dark look lighten at my news,
Thy dim eyes dance divinely at the grapes;
To loftier music time thy larger step;
And hearten thee to lift up onward brows!

I see a shape behind a mist, that burns
In the flushed distance of some unseen Goal;
It grows with gazing on, like Lovers' beauty.
With beckoning smiles the Glory draws me near;
One hand points up, one holds a leafy crown,
For me to climb and wear with manlier growth:
And airy Voices call me, bid me leap
In Victory's Car as it goes bickering by.
And Thou, dear Wife! with exultation lit,
Wilt drop proud tears to enrich my wine of joy,—
A costlier cup than ever Anthony's Queen
Magnificent! drank in her voluptuous vein!