ACTUS QUINTUS
The voices fall and fail;
The light is lowered. O dim sleep,
Over her eyelids creep!
The world of dreams is shapen fair
Beyond a mortal’s nod:
A fragrant and a sunny air
Smiles: a man’s kisses vanish there,
Grow kisses of a god ;
And in dreams’ darkness subtly grows
No Earth-flowered bloom of rose.
O dreams of love and peace, draw nigh !
Hover with shadowy wings!
Let shining shapes of ecstasy
Cover the frail blue veil of sky,
And speak immortal things !
Dream, lady, dream through summer noon,
Lulled by the sleepy tune!
The sense is riven, and the soul
Goes glimmering to the abode,
Where aeons in one moment roll,
And one thought shapes to its control
Body’s forgotten load.
Our lady sleeps! Our lady smiles
In far Elysian isles !
FIRST WOMAN.
Thrice have I crept towards the bed, and thrice
II