 | Peace and other poems |  |
61
THE SHADOW
Thou comest, an expected guest,
Pale Shadow, to my cloistered house;
With gentle mien thou enterest,
With grave assent and bended brows.
Pale Shadow, to my cloistered house;
With gentle mien thou enterest,
With grave assent and bended brows.
Then sit awhile and talk with me,
And show me thoughts undreamed of still;
The thing I am, yet would not be,
The sickness of the ailing will.
And show me thoughts undreamed of still;
The thing I am, yet would not be,
The sickness of the ailing will.
And yet I pray thee not to grow
Too tyrannous, too stern for peace;
Light up some generous dreams, to glow
And gleam across the ridgèd seas.
Too tyrannous, too stern for peace;
Light up some generous dreams, to glow
And gleam across the ridgèd seas.
62
Bring near the radiance of the Far,
Speak not of death, but second birth;
Quench not the light of flower and star,
Strike not her glory from the Earth.
Speak not of death, but second birth;
Quench not the light of flower and star,
Strike not her glory from the Earth.
But when thy gracious work is done,
And cleansed the willing sacrifice,
Bring incense; deck the altar-stone,
And let the holy fires uprise.
And cleansed the willing sacrifice,
Bring incense; deck the altar-stone,
And let the holy fires uprise.
| Peace and other poems | |