 | Some verses (1892) |  |
INSCRIBED TO Mm.e. Andreas Pettersson
6
A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS
You could not understand me, dear, nor see
That all my heart though changeful as the sea
Yearned for the love you were too proud to speak.
Once to have kissed your mouth and leaned my cheek
On yours and heard you tell me that you loved
Seemed all my life was made for, but you proved
Nothing of what I felt: you loved me: I
Could not do more than wonder anxiously
When you would speak; but you, perchance too proud
To meet rebuffs, wrapt in an obscure shroud
Your mind, and so we stood, and stand, apart.
A little violence gains a woman's heart;
Did you know this, I wonder? Once we lay
Where the cliff rising fronts a tranquil bay
And bears some grey stone ruins to the sky;
That afternoon in memory will not die;
Would that it might! We watched the white sails gleam,
The distant foam, while like a pleasant dream
The murmur of the village hummed below:
We were alone, so lonely, that the glow
Of sunset brought our solitude some pain;
Why now I ask did you not kiss me then?
Again our hearts I know were well in tune,
Alone at night in summer by the moon,
When in the languorous silence warm and sweet
We heard the wavelets plashing at our feet:
The moment slipped, it will not now return.
I wonder sometimes now that I discern
Truth, if you really loved me, or I read
Your presence wrongly: some are often led
To dream too much, so when I went with you
And saw broad heaven laid open to my view
You then perhaps were weary of my sight.
That all my heart though changeful as the sea
Yearned for the love you were too proud to speak.
Once to have kissed your mouth and leaned my cheek
On yours and heard you tell me that you loved
Seemed all my life was made for, but you proved
Nothing of what I felt: you loved me: I
7
When you would speak; but you, perchance too proud
To meet rebuffs, wrapt in an obscure shroud
Your mind, and so we stood, and stand, apart.
A little violence gains a woman's heart;
Did you know this, I wonder? Once we lay
Where the cliff rising fronts a tranquil bay
And bears some grey stone ruins to the sky;
That afternoon in memory will not die;
Would that it might! We watched the white sails gleam,
The distant foam, while like a pleasant dream
The murmur of the village hummed below:
We were alone, so lonely, that the glow
Of sunset brought our solitude some pain;
Why now I ask did you not kiss me then?
Again our hearts I know were well in tune,
Alone at night in summer by the moon,
When in the languorous silence warm and sweet
We heard the wavelets plashing at our feet:
The moment slipped, it will not now return.
8
Truth, if you really loved me, or I read
Your presence wrongly: some are often led
To dream too much, so when I went with you
And saw broad heaven laid open to my view
You then perhaps were weary of my sight.
I cannot say: I had too much delight.
Or was I cold? Too strong a love does this:
Itself destroys its own intensest bliss;
So when I loved you most, I seemed perchance
Most frigid . . .
Itself destroys its own intensest bliss;
So when I loved you most, I seemed perchance
Most frigid . . .
Yet we mould not circumstance,
Your fault or mine or irony of fate,
Thus was our love; and now it is too late.
Your fault or mine or irony of fate,
Thus was our love; and now it is too late.
13
FAR APART
My soul is as a bird that flies
Down unfrequented ways
Of windy seas and cloudy skies
Afar from human gaze,
While in its heart through all its flight
A poisoned arrow stays.
Down unfrequented ways
Of windy seas and cloudy skies
Afar from human gaze,
While in its heart through all its flight
A poisoned arrow stays.
Thy soul is as a fragrant isle
Where many a purple bay
And peaceful shores and harbours smile,
Where distant storms that stray
Sound as dim weeping in the night,
As laughter in the day.
Where many a purple bay
And peaceful shores and harbours smile,
Where distant storms that stray
Sound as dim weeping in the night,
As laughter in the day.
14
REQUIEM
Beneath the shadow of the seaAt last in slumber let me be,
And may no dream come down to me
Beneath the shadow of the sea!
15
LADY JENNY
When the spring, Lady Jenny,
Comes back to the dale,
There is laughter of lovers:
What makes ye sae pale?
When the summer is merry
In highland and plain,
Ye mourn for the kiss
Ye will feel not again.
Comes back to the dale,
There is laughter of lovers:
What makes ye sae pale?
When the summer is merry
In highland and plain,
Ye mourn for the kiss
Ye will feel not again.
Ye have steeds in your stable
And knights in your ha',
But I ween ye look sad
For your love that's awa';
Ye shall pray for his coming
From year unto year;
Yours is not the sorrow
That dies with a tear.
And knights in your ha',
But I ween ye look sad
For your love that's awa';
Ye shall pray for his coming
From year unto year;
Yours is not the sorrow
That dies with a tear.
16
Ye may moan, ye may weep,
Ye may rend your gowd hair,
His face, Lady Jenny,
Ye'll see never mair:
In the grass grows the flower,
In the tree croons the dove,
But the waves wash forever
The bones of your love.
Ye may rend your gowd hair,
His face, Lady Jenny,
Ye'll see never mair:
In the grass grows the flower,
In the tree croons the dove,
But the waves wash forever
The bones of your love.
17
THE MAD SPHINX
“Un vieux Sphinx ignoré du monde insoucieux,
Oublié sur la carte, et dont l'humeur farouche
Ne chante qu' aux rayons du soleil qui se couche”
Oublié sur la carte, et dont l'humeur farouche
Ne chante qu' aux rayons du soleil qui se couche”
Nought since offended Isis drew her veil
More closely round the radiance of her head
And passed beyond the planets, might avail
To break my silence. Now the time has fled.
More closely round the radiance of her head
And passed beyond the planets, might avail
To break my silence. Now the time has fled.
Forgotten, old, abandoned to the scorn
Of desert winds, I would not give one sign
Of all the torments that my soul has borne,
Were not my voice the secret of the shrine.
Of desert winds, I would not give one sign
Of all the torments that my soul has borne,
Were not my voice the secret of the shrine.
18
All day the sunlight sees me fixed and stern:
The red simoon in vain may bid me speak:
Only when round the pole the star-wheels turn
I feel hot tears roll down my marble cheek.
The red simoon in vain may bid me speak:
Only when round the pole the star-wheels turn
I feel hot tears roll down my marble cheek.
Yes! All I loved has passed and I remain,
Old phantom striving through the fearful night
To kiss its shadow, filled with doubt and pain:
I am a star that lingers till the light.
Old phantom striving through the fearful night
To kiss its shadow, filled with doubt and pain:
I am a star that lingers till the light.
I am the lips that kiss the frozen glass
Dividing them from unforgotten days:
I am the tune condemned to roam and pass
Upon the winds and rest on wrecks and strays.
Dividing them from unforgotten days:
I am the tune condemned to roam and pass
Upon the winds and rest on wrecks and strays.
In me who may not move is held the fire
Of wandering; I alone in silence set
Know where delight is mated with desire,
Where pleasure lives and dies without regret.
Of wandering; I alone in silence set
Know where delight is mated with desire,
Where pleasure lives and dies without regret.
The lakes of perfume, deep and wild and strange,
The palaces of colour, soft and strong,
The port where dreams are anchored, whence they range,
The seas of music and the waves of song.
The palaces of colour, soft and strong,
The port where dreams are anchored, whence they range,
The seas of music and the waves of song.
19
All these I know, and with unchanging gaze
Fixed on the far horizon clear from cloud
I dream of earth's unseen deep-hidden maze
Of seas of flame and lands more rich and proud.
Fixed on the far horizon clear from cloud
I dream of earth's unseen deep-hidden maze
Of seas of flame and lands more rich and proud.
The sand has drifted to my sculptured breast,
The tooth of time has gnawed my perfect face;
In vain they strive to stir my savage rest
Or move my limbs from their appointed place.
The tooth of time has gnawed my perfect face;
In vain they strive to stir my savage rest
Or move my limbs from their appointed place.
I saw the dust rise from the chariot wheels
Of kings that now are sand: I saw the sun
Light fallen shrines where now the jackal steals
At night. Alas! For all the days are done.
Of kings that now are sand: I saw the sun
Light fallen shrines where now the jackal steals
At night. Alas! For all the days are done.
A race of slaves digs in the outworn soil
Where ranks of spearmen shone from mile to mile:
Where are the cities full of lust and toil
That rose above the reedy banks of Nile?
Where ranks of spearmen shone from mile to mile:
Where are the cities full of lust and toil
That rose above the reedy banks of Nile?
No more the beaks of galleys rowed amain
Will meet and bite whilst on the ringing shore
Sword swings on shield, and on the helmets rain
Of arrows falls and glistens: nevermore
Will meet and bite whilst on the ringing shore
Sword swings on shield, and on the helmets rain
Of arrows falls and glistens: nevermore
20
Will boats of pilgrims toward Canopus sail
With songs and beaten tambourines. The sky
Under the strokes of dawn grows green and pale
Above the tawny desert. Ah! Must I
With songs and beaten tambourines. The sky
Under the strokes of dawn grows green and pale
Above the tawny desert. Ah! Must I
Henceforward crouch in silence, with no word
Of all the agonies that my heart endures,
Nor speak of wonders I have seen and heard,
Of loves that loathe and hatred that allures?
Of all the agonies that my heart endures,
Nor speak of wonders I have seen and heard,
Of loves that loathe and hatred that allures?
Yet through long years of silence sure to die,
Through all the wars of this man-travailled land,
While myriads came and passed and came, have I
Gazed over wilderness of the sand:
Through all the wars of this man-travailled land,
While myriads came and passed and came, have I
Gazed over wilderness of the sand:
And now being tired of all, being tired to see
The fruitless labour of the wearied earth,
The eternal conflict of the land and sea,
The works of men that crumble, little worth,
The fruitless labour of the wearied earth,
The eternal conflict of the land and sea,
The works of men that crumble, little worth,
The sterile laughter of the bitter sun,
The interminable procession of the stars,
I too am fain that this my life were done
And my face freed from time's deep-delving scars.
The interminable procession of the stars,
I too am fain that this my life were done
And my face freed from time's deep-delving scars.
21
Now that my beauty is gone, and year by year
Sad Egypt bends more low her outraged head,
I dream of wonders: if mine end is near
I shall not fear the constellations dead.
Sad Egypt bends more low her outraged head,
I dream of wonders: if mine end is near
I shall not fear the constellations dead.
Egypt is gone; her temples, gods and kings
Are gone. O time the hour should peal that sends
Me to the kingdom of forgotten things
Among the kings and gods that were my friends.
Are gone. O time the hour should peal that sends
Me to the kingdom of forgotten things
Among the kings and gods that were my friends.
Now I will speak not word again, but wait
And watch with changeless gaze and lips sealed dumb,
Beyond the sunset's purple-pillared gate,
The signs that tell me of the days to come.
And watch with changeless gaze and lips sealed dumb,
Beyond the sunset's purple-pillared gate,
The signs that tell me of the days to come.
| Some verses (1892) | |