Collected Works (Vol. III)

LIBER SECUNDUS VEL AMORIS 167 And then the maiden smoothed her tresses, And led him to the river, Caught him and kissed with young caresses, And then—her cruel smiles quiver ! Beneath the waves his life represses For ever and for ever ! I knew the danger of the deed The while enrapt I gladdened. My eyes upon the dancer feed As one by daylight saddened After long night whose slumbers bleed, By dreams deceived and maddened ! It might be—the delusive dance, The shadowy form I saw, Apollo’s misty quivering lance Thrown to elude God’s law; It might be—doth the maid advance, Evanish, or withdraw? So stung by certainty’s mistrust, Or tranced in dream of sin, Or blinded by some Panic dust, By Dionysian din Deafened, arose the laughing lust To fling my body in! I stood upon the rock, and cried, And held my body high (Not caring if I lived or died) Erect against the sky: Then plunged into the wheeling tide, And vanished utterly. ‘*O shape half seen of love, and ost Beneath time’s sightless tide, What obolus of the vital cost Remains, or may abide? Or what perception memory steal, Once passed upon the whirling wheel? ‘©O hope half held of love, and fled Beyond the ivory gate, A dream gone from the hapless head By fury ofa fate! What image of the hope returns But stings with agony that which yearns? ‘*O face half kissed in faith and fear, Ieager and beautiful! Drop for mortality one tear! For life one smile recall ! There is no passion made for me— Klse were my water-well the sea.” Such tune my falling body snapped Within the sacred sides, | While the warm waves with laughter lapped, And changed their tunéd tides, And all my being was enwrapped, A bridegroom’s in a bride’s. Deep in the hollow of the place A starry bed I saw, Gemmed with strange stones in many a space Of yodlike rune and law. Such fancies as the fiery face Of living Art might draw. sut rising up I lift my head Beyond the ripples clean: My arms with spray dew-diamonded Stretched love-wise to my queen That danced upon the light, and shed Her own sweet light between. But never a mortal joy might know, Hold never a mortal lover! Whose limbs like moonshine glint and glow, Throb, palpitate, and hover :— Pale sunrise woven with the snow Athwart a larchen cover! So danced she in the rainbow mist, A fairy frail and chaste, By moon caressed, by sunlight kissed A guerdon vain and waste; And the misery of her thankless tryst Stole on me as she paced. lor never her lips should be caressed By love’s exulting stings, Whose starry shape shone in the west, Held of the glimmering wings. [fer shadowy soul perceived the jest Of man and mortal things.