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32
SONGS TO ELIZABETH
I
Ave Maris Stella
Star of the chaste inviolable sea,
I set my heart and lips to sing to thee.
Out of the cavern of my sin and pain
My soul turns toward thee, star, my star, again.
O sweet as comes the cool first wind of dawn
Across grey sea and shadowy cliffside lawn,
O sweet as breaks the faint first gleam of light
On eyelids watching with the weary night,
The memory of thy presence comes to bless
My soul bowed down with infinite weariness,
Chaste star, sweet star, star perfect and divine,
Too far from me not to be wholly mine,
Too near to me not to be very far,
My lamp, my love, my muse, my song, my star!
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II
[O star above the sunset's purple wave]
O star above the sunset's purple wave,It had been thine to heal, to spare, to save.
My heart was thine, my soul was one with thee,
Grown virginal in thy virginity.
Thy fingers with the cool sweet touch of flowers
Had healed me from the devastated hours.
Thy words had cleansed me and thy love had made
A port where Love had anchored unafraid.
But strength and love and skill in song and rhyme
Shake not the edict of unshaken Time.
I would have given thee love, alas! a name
To set thee foremost in the ranks of fame
And life could life have bidden thy spirit live.
Ah sweet, but what thou hadst thou wouldst not give!
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III
[As when the prayers and chants have passed away]
As when the prayers and chants have passed away,
At mass, when nave and chancel dim are dense
With purple fumes of cloud-like curled incense,
One bows before the altar's sovereign sway
And wanders forth into the garish day,
Waking as after slumber from the tense
And strange delight of the exalted sense
Unto the dull world's hurry and delay:
At mass, when nave and chancel dim are dense
With purple fumes of cloud-like curled incense,
One bows before the altar's sovereign sway
And wanders forth into the garish day,
Waking as after slumber from the tense
And strange delight of the exalted sense
Unto the dull world's hurry and delay:
So you being gone out of my life and soul,
Gold censer on whose breath my life was fed!
Monstrance that held of old love's sacred bread!
I am as one that runs without a goal,
The course I go that once foretold my gain
Being now most flat, unprofitable and vain.
Gold censer on whose breath my life was fed!
Monstrance that held of old love's sacred bread!
I am as one that runs without a goal,
The course I go that once foretold my gain
Being now most flat, unprofitable and vain.
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IV
O du mein holder Abendstern
My star of eve above the silent dell,
To thee and her, white twins of love, farewell.
Help and a haven from o'ermastering love
In you I sought who were so far above:
Too far, alas! for while ye slowly fade
My heart again Her snakes and lips invade.
I feel Her arms and form about me pressed,
The stinging of Her kisses in my breast.
O heavenly stars, that shine on earth and wave
Ye could not answer to my soul and save.
Yet while ye watch the land and tranquil sea,
A little longer, stars, remember me,
For with my last farewell, I lose and leave
The heaven ye gain, O stars of silent eve!
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