Chapter IV

"Come, oh come!
No longer shall language be dumb!
Thy vision shall grasp--
As one doth the glittering hasp
Of a dagger made splendid with gems and with gold--
The wonder and richness of life, not anguish and hate of it merely.
And out of the stark
Eternity, awful and dark,
Immensity silent and cold,--
Universe-shaking as trumpets, or thunderous metals
That cymbal; yet pensive and pearly
And soft as the rosy unfolding of petals,
Or crumbling aroma of blossoms that wither too early,--
The majestic music of Death, where he plays
On the organ, eternal and vast, of eons and days."

NYMPH AND FAUN

With her soft face half turned to me
Like an arrested moonbeam, she
Stood in the cirque of that deep tree.

I took her by the hands; she raised
Her face to mine; and, half amazed,
I kissed her; and we stood and gazed.

How good to kiss her throat and hair,
And say no word!--Her throat was bare,
And, as the slim moon, young and fair.--

Had God not given us life for this?
The world-old, amorous happiness
Of arms that clasp, and lips that kiss.

O eloquence of limbs and arms!
O rhetoric of breasts, whose charms
Say to the sluggish blood what warms!

Had God not smiled upon this hour
That bloomed,--where love had all of power,--
The senses' aphrodisiac flower?

The dawn was far away: the night
Hung savage stars of sultry white,
Lamp-like, above to give us light.

Night, night, who led us each to each,
Where heart with heart could hold sweet speech,
With life's best gift within our reach.

And here it was--between the goals
Of flesh and spirit, sex controls--
Took place the marriage of our souls.

PARTING OF LEANDER AND HERO

I

Brows pale through blue-black tresses
Wet with the rain's cold kisses;
Hair that the sea-wind tosses,
Wild as wild wings in flight;
Pale brows, some sad thought crosses,
One kiss and then--good night.

II

Nay, love! thou wilt undo me
When in the heavy waves!--
Come, smile! and make unto me
The billows' backs as slaves
To bear me and indue me
With strength o'er ocean's graves.

III

Weep not, as heavy-hearted
Before I go! lest thou
Shouldst follow as we parted.--
Come, gaze at me glad-hearted!
Not with sweet lips distorted
With fear; and eyes tear-smarted!--
Let me remember how
Thy face looks when thou smilest
And with soft words beguilest
My soul.--From feet to brow,
Come, strengthen thy strong lover
To breast the waves that cover
Deep caves where sea-nymphs hover,
Eager to seize him now.

IV

Thy image, love, shall follow
With breast pressed close to mine:
With arms from out whose hollow
No death can tear me. Follow,
Come, light me through the brine,
Dark eyes, fixed bright on mine,
And mouth as red as wine!--
Yea, give me wine of kisses,
Whose fire shall help me home,
Sweetheart, through foam that hisses,
The long wild miles of foam.

V

Sweet! cease thy sighs and weeping!
'Tis time for rest and sleeping,
And Venus-vestured dreams,
Where thy Leander, stooping,
Thou'lt see as now, undrooping,
With eyes all unaccusing:
Not as thou saw'st, it seems,
In sleep last night, in dreams,
His curls with ocean oozing,
And wan of cheek and brow:
But, Hero, even as now,
Fair-favored as can make him
Thy smile, which is a might,
A hope, a god, to take him
Safe through this hell of night.