 | The new minnesinger and other poems |  |
74
LOVE AND WINE.
I knew that first love was a new-graped wine
That best in the dark would keep;
I had a safe-hiding heart, and mine
I buried there, oh so deep!
That best in the dark would keep;
I had a safe-hiding heart, and mine
I buried there, oh so deep!
I said: From the light it must needs escape,
And remain untasted so,
Till the sun-warm bloom of the rounding grape
Through its inner fruitage glow.
And remain untasted so,
Till the sun-warm bloom of the rounding grape
Through its inner fruitage glow.
It was not press'd for a passing thirst;
A short-lived want to allay;
For a life-long passion of need it was nurst,
For a far-off festal day.
A short-lived want to allay;
For a life-long passion of need it was nurst,
For a far-off festal day.
75
I bade it in darkness grow bright and strong,
Through memory, and loss, and dearth:
Change, ferment, transition, it suffered long,
Then pass'd, through a second birth,
Through memory, and loss, and dearth:
Change, ferment, transition, it suffered long,
Then pass'd, through a second birth,
Into fixèd sunshine, and odour fine
Its fuller life to express:
Oh, I ne'er had hoarded the new-made wine,
My love, had I lov'd thee less!
Its fuller life to express:
Oh, I ne'er had hoarded the new-made wine,
My love, had I lov'd thee less!
But now it is bloom-flush'd, and fragrant, and sweet,
And I, from this heart of mine,
Can draw for thy lips a drink-offering meet:
Ah, now thou canst ask for wine!
And I, from this heart of mine,
Can draw for thy lips a drink-offering meet:
Ah, now thou canst ask for wine!
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