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Whym Chow: Flame of Love

By Michael Field [i.e. K. H. Bradley and E. E. Cooper]

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III.

[Crowned with wine-steeped]

Crowned with wine-steeped
Daphne-bough,
Strewment of the black,
Sproutless ivy in thy frenzy trod,
Wine-steeped hellebore
'Neath thy ebon chin,
Thy bright corse walled in
On thy coffin-floor;
And the wine of God
Making ruddy track
On thy side, thy blood upon thy brow!
By those elements life-red,
By the blood, the wine,
O beloved, our Want, our hidden Soul,
Be our dæmon, be
Guardian-angel near
To the cruel sphere
Of our destiny,
As its changes roll
Genius half-divine,
Dear Companion, blessed as are the dead.
Not in full-furred loveliness,
When love's shining aid
Came from brilliant eyes and glorious face—
Now we may not touch
Full-furred beauty, grand
As lions' ruby-tanned,

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Nay, be with us such
As by holiest grace
Spirits have been made
Wayfarer with men, fired through to bless!