 | Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson |  |
TO PASSIONS
To Henry Davray.
I
That hate, and that, and that again,
Easy and simple are to bear:
My hatred of myself is pain
Beyond my tolerable share.
Easy and simple are to bear:
My hatred of myself is pain
Beyond my tolerable share.
Comfort and joy, I have not claimed:
I ask no vast felicity.
But of myself to live ashamed
Is ever present agony.
I ask no vast felicity.
But of myself to live ashamed
Is ever present agony.
207
O haunting thoughts, awhile away!
O brooding memories, go sleep!
Give me one hour of every day:
Yours be the rest to vex and keep.
O brooding memories, go sleep!
Give me one hour of every day:
Yours be the rest to vex and keep.
1894.
II
Darker than death, fiercer than fire,
Hatefuller than the heart of Hell:
I know thee, O mine own desire!
I know not mine own self so well.
Hatefuller than the heart of Hell:
I know thee, O mine own desire!
I know not mine own self so well.
Passion, imperious, insolent,
Thou that destroyest me! oh, slay
Me now, or leave me to repent:
I weary of thy lingering way.
Thou that destroyest me! oh, slay
Me now, or leave me to repent:
I weary of thy lingering way.
1894.
III
Thou fool! For if thou have thy way with me,
Thou wilt be still the same: but victor, I
Should make some fair perfection out of thee,
And reach the starry Heaven of Heavens thereby.
Thou wilt be still the same: but victor, I
Should make some fair perfection out of thee,
And reach the starry Heaven of Heavens thereby.
But thou preferrest the dark joy of Hell,
Triumphant over me drawn down to it?
Thou fool! My lost soul ever more would tell
Thy folly, and the anguish of the Pit.
Triumphant over me drawn down to it?
Thou fool! My lost soul ever more would tell
Thy folly, and the anguish of the Pit.
1893.
| Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson | |