 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
AN INVOCATION
An invocation for the queenly one,
The ruler of my days and my desire:
A burning incense to my radiant sun,
A music mounting in a shaft of fire:
The ruler of my days and my desire:
A burning incense to my radiant sun,
A music mounting in a shaft of fire:
An adoration and a sacrifice,
An aureole outrayed upon her brow,
As in a silver saint of Paradise:
A pearly necklace round a throat of snow—
An aureole outrayed upon her brow,
As in a silver saint of Paradise:
A pearly necklace round a throat of snow—
Turn not the splendour of thine eyes aside,
Though night and all her shadows are deceased;
Thy glance is as the morning's to divide
The pillared chambers of the glowing east.
Though night and all her shadows are deceased;
Thy glance is as the morning's to divide
The pillared chambers of the glowing east.
The clear blue heaven returns in all my soul
Dim cloud and dense forebodings haste away:
I fear no hidden rock, no ragged shoal,
I ride at anchor in a glassy bay.
Dim cloud and dense forebodings haste away:
I fear no hidden rock, no ragged shoal,
I ride at anchor in a glassy bay.
My life is as a wood, where owls and jays
Hoot in the heavy boughs, and magpies rail,
Till I am weary. Then, beyond all praise,
I hear thy rapture, O my nightingale.
Hoot in the heavy boughs, and magpies rail,
Till I am weary. Then, beyond all praise,
I hear thy rapture, O my nightingale.
My life is as a lonely woodland mere,
Whose sullen waters without sun repose:
And thou one ivory lily floating here,
Marble and white, flushed with a hint of rose.
Whose sullen waters without sun repose:
And thou one ivory lily floating here,
Marble and white, flushed with a hint of rose.
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Thou art the silence of a mighty sea,
Thou art the tempest cleaving night with fire:
Thou art the fragrance of all spring to me,—
Mine, fated mine, as mine in my desire.
Thou art the tempest cleaving night with fire:
Thou art the fragrance of all spring to me,—
Mine, fated mine, as mine in my desire.
Before the world was builded, thou wert mine,
Before the seas were laid, Fate drew thee dumb
Out of the void abyss: my soul to thine,
Thro' myriad leagues of awful space has come.—
Before the seas were laid, Fate drew thee dumb
Out of the void abyss: my soul to thine,
Thro' myriad leagues of awful space has come.—
Swing up the golden censer, acolyte,
Let fumes of stately frankincense arise,
As Pæan to my beautiful Delight,
And mingle cloud-like with the cloudy skies.
Let fumes of stately frankincense arise,
As Pæan to my beautiful Delight,
And mingle cloud-like with the cloudy skies.
I breathe but in thy breath; and, this withdrawn,
My swan-like music dies upon its wing:
But smile upon me like incarnate Dawn,
And then this Memnon, mute before, can sing.
My swan-like music dies upon its wing:
But smile upon me like incarnate Dawn,
And then this Memnon, mute before, can sing.
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |