8 
ROSA COELI 
 
 
And even did confirm the Bible tale 
By playing Jonah to your Jonah’s whale. 
So, to the stars !   
 
VIII 
A poet is at ease 
In all such voyages :   
Why, as a boy, I steered 
Up to the Scorpion and tweaked his tail, 
Plucked foolish Capricornus by the beard 
And kissed the Blessed Damozel that leaned upon the 
golden rail, 
Drank from the glad rim of the grail 
Or soothed the squally Twins (for they could weep !) 
And while I smiled “ In Heaven how safe I am ! ” 
Found myself in my little bed asleep 
Having been butted thither by the Ram. 
 
IX 
But in the dream of you, my starry sweet, 
It is my earth I lose six times in seven. 
I have the Freedom of the City of Heaven ; 
But strange (though fair) are all the stars I meet. 
The dull familiar and the homely drear 
Are lost for ever.  Being asleep, I fear. 
Wake !  Let me cut the cable of my mind !   
My harbour lies before, and not behind. 
Dreams are all lies ;  those jetty shadows lie 
When the full moon doth crown the midnight sky ;   
But shadows image truth, and dreams come true, 
For when I wake my arms are full of you.