 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
248
A NINETEENTH-CENTURY “EPITHALAMION.”
IN THREE PARTS.
“My darling, do you care for me at all?”
“I only love you, sweet,” the maiden said,
He answered not, but slowly sank his head
Upon the breast his being held in thrall;
“I only love you, sweet,” the maiden said,
He answered not, but slowly sank his head
Upon the breast his being held in thrall;
A time of sacred silence, and of rapture,
And giant thoughts that round the planet roll
And dance from star to star, and chase and capture
Echoes of the Universal Soul,
Of race-horse thoughts that pant from pole to pole,
And skim the ages, and returning pour
The wealth they've gathered on time's shelving shore
At feet of her their master bends before;
The cup of ecstasy can hold no more,
It groans for very fulness, seething o'er
It floods with flowers the encircling floor,
Passion the chrysalis must find a door
To free herself, and now the kisses rain,
Till pleasure sinks into the lap of pain,
Thence to arise, strong to receive, again;
And giant thoughts that round the planet roll
And dance from star to star, and chase and capture
Echoes of the Universal Soul,
Of race-horse thoughts that pant from pole to pole,
And skim the ages, and returning pour
The wealth they've gathered on time's shelving shore
249
The cup of ecstasy can hold no more,
It groans for very fulness, seething o'er
It floods with flowers the encircling floor,
Passion the chrysalis must find a door
To free herself, and now the kisses rain,
Till pleasure sinks into the lap of pain,
Thence to arise, strong to receive, again;
250
Rejoice ye stars and heights of windy ether,
And pass the message on from hand to hand,
The Queen of air has stooped to wed beneath her,
Love leads the Goddess of the sea to land,
With hair of hers she weaves a silken band
To link the seas of sunrise and of sunset,
By no one has such sovereignty been won yet
Of sister nymphs that haunt the ocean strand!
And pass the message on from hand to hand,
The Queen of air has stooped to wed beneath her,
Love leads the Goddess of the sea to land,
With hair of hers she weaves a silken band
To link the seas of sunrise and of sunset,
By no one has such sovereignty been won yet
Of sister nymphs that haunt the ocean strand!
Take up the message, wind, and waft it over
The waste of waters, hearken waves of blue,
Babble about the secret of a lover,
And bear a name to coasts and countries new,
The name of her to whom a reckless rover
Resigns himself, henceforth strong, steadfast, true!
The waste of waters, hearken waves of blue,
Babble about the secret of a lover,
And bear a name to coasts and countries new,
The name of her to whom a reckless rover
Resigns himself, henceforth strong, steadfast, true!
251
Resigns himself, resigning each to other
With loss of self the essence of the soul,
Commingling into one white wondrous whole
Embracing love of father, love of mother,
With all the ancient love of sister, brother,
The carpet of the future they unroll,
Before them love lies outlined in a scroll,
And live delights the laughing days to smother;
They see before them traced in wondrous fashion
A shadowy record of what is to be,
Vales of endeavour, sunlight, heights of passion,
Ecstatic glimpses, raging of the sea,
While all the further end beyond unrolled,
Melts mistlike into one wild wave of gold;
With loss of self the essence of the soul,
Commingling into one white wondrous whole
Embracing love of father, love of mother,
With all the ancient love of sister, brother,
The carpet of the future they unroll,
Before them love lies outlined in a scroll,
And live delights the laughing days to smother;
They see before them traced in wondrous fashion
A shadowy record of what is to be,
Vales of endeavour, sunlight, heights of passion,
Ecstatic glimpses, raging of the sea,
While all the further end beyond unrolled,
Melts mistlike into one wild wave of gold;
252
And hand in hand together they will wander
Through all the shady roadways of the land,
Till hand in hand together they shall stand
Upon the snowy summits that are yonder,
Now pressing onward, pausing now to ponder,
At times she stoops to pluck for him a flower,
The fairest she can find, a gift, a dower,
A dower that each of other leaveth fonder;
As mind, and love, and life of each expands,
While individual passion groweth stronger,
It widens, reaching out to other lands,
And, not the less intense, becometh longer,
With eyes of light that look beyond “the yonder,”
High as the hills, a wealth too great to squander,
Binding the earth together in broad bands.
Through all the shady roadways of the land,
Till hand in hand together they shall stand
Upon the snowy summits that are yonder,
Now pressing onward, pausing now to ponder,
At times she stoops to pluck for him a flower,
The fairest she can find, a gift, a dower,
A dower that each of other leaveth fonder;
As mind, and love, and life of each expands,
While individual passion groweth stronger,
It widens, reaching out to other lands,
And, not the less intense, becometh longer,
With eyes of light that look beyond “the yonder,”
High as the hills, a wealth too great to squander,
Binding the earth together in broad bands.
253
Words fail me; would that I could paint the wonder
Of young souls met together on the earth,
The growth of Giant passion, and the birth
Of Love, that I could clothe my pen with thunder,
That I could tear the sunset robes asunder,
And paint with every colour of the sky
The splendour of young love before I die
And face the dark, and pass Death's gateway under;
I faint, I fade, I cannot reach the meaning
Of earth or air, of sea, or sky, or land,
Bewildered in the centre, drowsily dreaming,
While all the air with countless colours streaming
Intoxicates with ecstasy, I stand,
Afraid to move, afraid to raise a hand,
Lest I disturb the Incense cloud around me slowly steaming!
Of young souls met together on the earth,
The growth of Giant passion, and the birth
Of Love, that I could clothe my pen with thunder,
That I could tear the sunset robes asunder,
And paint with every colour of the sky
The splendour of young love before I die
And face the dark, and pass Death's gateway under;
I faint, I fade, I cannot reach the meaning
Of earth or air, of sea, or sky, or land,
Bewildered in the centre, drowsily dreaming,
While all the air with countless colours streaming
Intoxicates with ecstasy, I stand,
Afraid to move, afraid to raise a hand,
Lest I disturb the Incense cloud around me slowly steaming!
254
The joy that trembles at itself, the rapture,
The keen pursuit, the glimpses of the goal,
The more than mad delirium of the soul
Realizing possibility of capture,
The dreams at night as gorgeous as stories
Of old Arabia, visions, sunset glories,
The thought that after all it may be true,
That woman's love may yet be left for you,
—And dim delights of dark and morning rapture—
The Past and Present on for ever flowing
Towards a Future time more glorious still,
With speed of light the lightsome minutes going,
With speed of sound the hours that work their will,
A Righteous Willing, one with inclination,
And Universe of Life, and world's rotation,
And every sunlight shaft, and wandering rill!
The keen pursuit, the glimpses of the goal,
The more than mad delirium of the soul
Realizing possibility of capture,
The dreams at night as gorgeous as stories
Of old Arabia, visions, sunset glories,
The thought that after all it may be true,
That woman's love may yet be left for you,
—And dim delights of dark and morning rapture—
The Past and Present on for ever flowing
Towards a Future time more glorious still,
With speed of light the lightsome minutes going,
With speed of sound the hours that work their will,
A Righteous Willing, one with inclination,
And Universe of Life, and world's rotation,
And every sunlight shaft, and wandering rill!
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