Collected Works (Vol. III)

94 GARGOYLES Call ‘homo sapiens ” him who thinks ; Talkers and doers—missing links ! Such songs are twilight’s, when I stretch My limbs, and wander down to fetch My water from the cool cascade, My wood from the enchanted glade, My berries from the rustling bough :— Return, and eat, and sleep. Allow For me, the silence and the night 3 Life, peace ; and death, a welcome wight. SAID. THE spears of the night at her onset Are lords of the day for a while, The magical green of the sunset, The magical blue of the Nile. Afloat are the gales In our slumberous sails On the beautiful breast of the Nile. We have swooned through the midday, ex- hausted By the lips—they are whips—of the sun, The horizon befogged and befrosted By the haze and the greys and the dun Of the whirlings of sand Let loose on the land By the wind that is born of the sun. On the water we stand as a shadow, A skeleton sombre and thin Erect on the watery meadow, As a giant, a lord of the Djinn Set sentinel over Some queen and her lover Beloved of the Gods and the Djinn. We saw the moon shudder and sink In a furnace of tremulous bluc ; We stood on the mystical brink Of the day as it sprang to us through The veil of the night, And the babe of the light Was begotten in the caves of the dew. My lover and I were awake When the noise of the dawn in our ears Burst out like a storm or a snake Or the rush of the Badawi spears. Dawn of desire ! But thy kiss was as fire To thy lovers and princes and peers. Then the ruin of night we beheld As the sun stormed the heights of the sky With his myriad swords, and compelled The pale tremblers, the planets, to fly. He drave from their place All the stars for a space, From their bastioned towers in the sky. Thrilled through to the marrow with heat We abode (as we glode) on the river. Every arrow he launched from his seat, From the white inexhaustible quiver, Smote us right through, Smote us and slew, As we rode on the rapturous river. Sweet sleep is perfection of love. To die into dreams of my lover, To wake with his mouth like a dove Kissing me over and over! Better sleep so Than be conscious, and know Ilow death hath a charm to discover. Ah! float in the cool of the gloaming ! Float wide in the lap of the stream With his mouth ever roving and homing To the nest where the dove is adream, Setter wake so Than be thinking, and know That at best it is only a dream. So turn up thy face to the stars ! In their peace be at peace for awhile ! Let us pass in their luminous cars As asob, as asigh, asa smile! Love me and laze Through the Janguorous days On the breast of the beautiful Nile ! Muay 1905.