 | Phantasmagoria |  |
17
Love.
A pain at stars beyond our reach
Is love, a sorrow at soaring wings,
A sadness on the ocean beach,
And in lone moonlight, thoughts that stretch
To all illimitable things,
Vast visions, and vague whisperings.
His stammering elemental speech
Love sighs, and sobs, and sings.
Is love, a sorrow at soaring wings,
A sadness on the ocean beach,
And in lone moonlight, thoughts that stretch
To all illimitable things,
Vast visions, and vague whisperings.
His stammering elemental speech
Love sighs, and sobs, and sings.
The mystery of the plenilune;
The melody of purple peaks;
The dim sea glittering at night's noon,
Broad, boundless, vague with mist and moon;
The language the pine forest speaks;
The soul that, swathed in music, seeks
Into eternity to swoon;
The sunset's golden streaks.
The melody of purple peaks;
The dim sea glittering at night's noon,
Broad, boundless, vague with mist and moon;
The language the pine forest speaks;
The soul that, swathed in music, seeks
Into eternity to swoon;
The sunset's golden streaks.
Eve lends him magic realms to stray,
Gold isles in stretches of green seas,
Enchanted shores that reach away
Far into realms of dazzling day:
Love longs to fly and mix with these,
Beyond the stars to be at ease,
To fade in moonlight green or gray,
To melt into a breeze.
Gold isles in stretches of green seas,
Enchanted shores that reach away
Far into realms of dazzling day:
Love longs to fly and mix with these,
Beyond the stars to be at ease,
To fade in moonlight green or gray,
To melt into a breeze.
18
Affection stoops, and passion mars:
Love pines, love worships, love aspires,
Forgets the earth and sees the stars,
The spangled pole, the twilight-bars,
With head thrown back and high desires,
A mystic proud, whose words are fires
Charioted abroad in meteor-cars
And heralded with lyres.
Love pines, love worships, love aspires,
Forgets the earth and sees the stars,
The spangled pole, the twilight-bars,
With head thrown back and high desires,
A mystic proud, whose words are fires
Charioted abroad in meteor-cars
And heralded with lyres.
Love is the mist that from the wave
Exhales to heaven, the dews that creep
Up to the blossoms from the grave,
The spray of waterfalls that lave
Oerhanging fern high up the steep,
The tears that clouds through rain-bows weep,
Dissolving songs that soar and crave,
The dreams of a sweet sleep.
Exhales to heaven, the dews that creep
Up to the blossoms from the grave,
The spray of waterfalls that lave
Oerhanging fern high up the steep,
The tears that clouds through rain-bows weep,
Dissolving songs that soar and crave,
The dreams of a sweet sleep.
Love is a breaking wave that flings
Its life to the warm wind it adores;
The soft desire of yearning strings;
Love is the melody that wings
Its burning flight to starry shores;
A prayer that beats the sunset doors;
Love is a nightingale that sings
An eagle plumed that soars.
Its life to the warm wind it adores;
The soft desire of yearning strings;
Love is the melody that wings
Its burning flight to starry shores;
A prayer that beats the sunset doors;
Love is a nightingale that sings
An eagle plumed that soars.
Nay liker to lost memories
Of life before the womb was riven,
A child from some serener skies
Cast on our world with piteous cries,
A meteor fal'n to earth at even,
An erring joy from Eden driven,
A seraph dropt from Paradise,
A soul remembering heaven.
Of life before the womb was riven,
A child from some serener skies
Cast on our world with piteous cries,
A meteor fal'n to earth at even,
An erring joy from Eden driven,
A seraph dropt from Paradise,
A soul remembering heaven.
19
Love touching but the finger-tips
Thrills with electric flame all through;
Earth, sea, and sky endure eclipse
At one keen pang of meeting lips:
Brain reels, limbs totter, cheeks change hue,
Touched as by sudden venomous dew;
From fainting feet the firm soil slips,
The skies fade out of view.
Thrills with electric flame all through;
Earth, sea, and sky endure eclipse
At one keen pang of meeting lips:
Brain reels, limbs totter, cheeks change hue,
Touched as by sudden venomous dew;
From fainting feet the firm soil slips,
The skies fade out of view.
At one touch of a sweeping gown,
At one glance lightened from the soul,
Love's breast is like a 'leaguered town,
When panic throngs rush up and down,
When bugles blare, drums throb and roll,
Alarums clang and death-bells toll,
Shells burst, the air burns red and brown,
Eyes dazzle, ears grow dull,
At one glance lightened from the soul,
Love's breast is like a 'leaguered town,
When panic throngs rush up and down,
When bugles blare, drums throb and roll,
Alarums clang and death-bells toll,
Shells burst, the air burns red and brown,
Eyes dazzle, ears grow dull,
Whilst, loud above the storm and throng
Of rushing blood and pulsing vein,
The heart, like thousand hammers swung,
Beats out its warlike anvil-song,
And answering sounds ring in the brain
With maddening tumult and fierce pain,
Forging with measured strokes and strong
Swords wherewith men are slain,
Of rushing blood and pulsing vein,
The heart, like thousand hammers swung,
Beats out its warlike anvil-song,
And answering sounds ring in the brain
With maddening tumult and fierce pain,
Forging with measured strokes and strong
Swords wherewith men are slain,
Swords that like pangs of piercing steel
Traverse the breast through plates of scorn,
Whose scars deceitful, that soon heal,
After long years we, startled, feel
Ache at some tune, some perfume, borne
In the vague twilight or dim morn,
Or bleed re-opened like a seal
By some rude finger torn.
Traverse the breast through plates of scorn,
Whose scars deceitful, that soon heal,
After long years we, startled, feel
Ache at some tune, some perfume, borne
In the vague twilight or dim morn,
Or bleed re-opened like a seal
By some rude finger torn.
20
Love is a living burning flame,
Subtle at first, with searching heat
Consuming chastity, sapping shame
With the soft music of a name,
Then hurrying on with lightning feet,
A conflagration fierce and fleet,
O'erwhelms, destroys, devours,—like fame,
A madness blind and sweet.
Subtle at first, with searching heat
Consuming chastity, sapping shame
With the soft music of a name,
Then hurrying on with lightning feet,
A conflagration fierce and fleet,
O'erwhelms, destroys, devours,—like fame,
A madness blind and sweet.
Aug. 12th. 1886.
| Phantasmagoria | |