 | Fantasy and Passion |  |
FROM SHADOWLAND.
When I lay weak and white on my death-bed,
I smiled and said:
“Oh, soul, thine hour is near! Be comforted!”
I smiled and said:
“Oh, soul, thine hour is near! Be comforted!”
And sweet at last it was to break away
From bonds of clay,
And leap, a bodiless rapture, into day!
From bonds of clay,
And leap, a bodiless rapture, into day!
“For now,” I thought, “this woman whose mute scorn
My life has borne,
Crowned with it even as with a crown of thorn,
My life has borne,
Crowned with it even as with a crown of thorn,
“This woman whom I have loved with love supreme,
Yet might not dream
Of kissing her pure garment's outmost seam,
Yet might not dream
Of kissing her pure garment's outmost seam,
84
“This woman, lo! she is mine, through many a year
To hover near,
And passionately to worship, to revere!”
To hover near,
And passionately to worship, to revere!”
So I went viewless on the viewless air
Fleetly to where
She sat in a green garden, calm and fair.
Fleetly to where
She sat in a green garden, calm and fair.
I clasped her with intangible arms like light,
In fervid might,
And on her sweet proud beauty fed my sight!
In fervid might,
And on her sweet proud beauty fed my sight!
I rained quick kisses on her lips and eyes,
And loverwise
I sank on her deep bosom with deep sighs!
And loverwise
I sank on her deep bosom with deep sighs!
And she, meanwhile, with smooth lids drooping low,
Chaster than snow,
Sat there superbly calm, and did not know!
Chaster than snow,
Sat there superbly calm, and did not know!
My most impetuous kiss—the intense wild stress
Of each caress—
Alike to her was an utter nothingness!
Of each caress—
Alike to her was an utter nothingness!
Cold pangs through all my ghostly being shot;
I loathed my lot,
I that possessed and yet possessed her not!
I loathed my lot,
I that possessed and yet possessed her not!
And now to God on every wind is borne
My moan forlorn:
“Have pity, O God, and give me back her scorn!”
My moan forlorn:
“Have pity, O God, and give me back her scorn!”
| Fantasy and Passion | |