Collected Works (Vol. III)

134 ORPHEUS The veil of us falling On snow-height and heather, Or hovering and scrawling Strange signs in the «ther. We hear the still voice, and we know him . we come ! We are sightless and dumb. ORPHEUS. More frail than your friends, The clouds borne above, The light of thee blends With the moon and her love. Thy spirit descends As a white-throated dove. Come forth! I invoke thee, O mist, and make me a sharer thereof ! THE MIsT. From valleys of violet My shadow hath kissed, From low-lying islet, A vision of mist, The voice of my pilot Steals soft to insist. O azure of sky, let Me pass to the tryst ! I hear the low voice of my love ; and I rest A maid on his breast. ORPHEUS. Thou child of soft wind And the luminous air, Thou, stealing behind As a ghost, as a rare Soft dew, as a blind Fierce lion from his lair, Come forth! I invoke thee, O rain, look forth with thy countenance fair ! THE RAIN. From highland far drifted, From river-fed lawn, From clouds thunder-rifted, I leap as a fawn. The voice is uplifted, The lord of my dawn; My spirit is shifted, My love is withdrawn, I hear the sweet feet of my God; I know him; I fall In tears at his call. ORPHEUS., Cold lips and chaste eyes Of frost-fall that leap, That shake from the skies On the earth in her sleep Kiss nuptial, arise As the lyre-strings sweep ! Come forth! I invoke thee, O frost, the valleys await thee and weep. THE FRosr. So silent and wise In her cerement clothes, So secretly lies My soul in my snows ; I awake, I arise, For my spirit now knows The first time in her eyes That a voice may unclose My petals: I hear it; I come; I clasp the warm ground In my passion profound. ORPHEUS. In valleys heaped high, In drifts lying low, Swift slopes to the sky, Come forth to me, snow ! Thy beauty and I Are of old even so As lover and lover. Come forth! I invoke thee ! the hills are aglow. THE SNOW. Bright breasts I uncover, Heart's heart to thy gaze ; O lyre of my lover, I know thee, thy praise.