University of Virginia Library


51

GERTRUDE

Help me, sweet spirit, in this my song of thee.
Shine gently on me with thy spirit-face;
Lift me in singing to some lofty place
Wherein thine utter beauty I may see.
Grant me a lyre of radiant purity:
Kiss me,—and let thy mouth, a glorious flower,
Once having touched mine, gift it with new power;
Stoop from thine heaven where I shall one day be.
I see thee not; but thy sweet touch at times
Lifts me, as towards glad sight of holier lands,
New flowerful forests of soft spirit-climes,
Wherein the whitest blossoms are thine hands:
One day thine eyes shall, like the morning, break
Upon me, and my lifelong fever slake.