I28 
ANIMA LUNAE 
 
In shapes not seen of men, abiding ever 
Above the lonely river 
Aloft :  no more I saw than this, 
The shadowy bending to the first sweet kiss 
That surely could not end, though earth should end. 
Therefore my shut eyes blend 
With sleep’s own secret eyes and eyelashes, 
Long and deep ecstasies, 
Knowing as now I know—at last—how this 
Foreshadows my own bliss 
Of falling into death when life is tired. 
For all things desired 
Not one as death is so desirable, 
Seeing all sorrows pass, all joys endure, 
All lessons last.  Not heaven and not hell 
(My spirit is grown sure) 
Await the lover 
But death’s veil draws, life’s mother to discover, 
Nature ; no longer mother, but a bride ! 
Ay !  there is none beside. 
 
O brothers mightier than my mightiest word 
In the least sob that stirred 
Your lyres, bring me, me also to the end ! 
Be near to me, befriend 
Me in the moonlit, moonless deeps of death, 
And with exalted breath 
Breathe some few flames into the embers dull 
Of these poor rhymes and leave them beautiful.