THE GARDEN OF JANUS
Bathing his limbs in some delicious dim
Depth, where the evening star
May kiss his mouth, or by the black sky’s rim
He makes his prayer
To the great serpent that is coiled in rapture there.
VII
I rose to seek him. First my footsteps faint
Pressed the starred moss ; but soon
I wandered, like some sweet sequestered saint,
Into the wood, my mind. The moon
Was staggered by the trees ; with fierce constraint
Hardly one ray
Pierced to the ragged earth about their roots that lay.
VIII
I wandered, crying on my Lord. I wandered
Eagerly seeking everywhere.
The stores of life that on my lips he squandered
Grew into shrill cries of despair,
Until the dryads frightened and dumfoundered
Fled into space—
Like to a demon-king’s was grown my maiden face |
IX
At last I came unto the well, my soul.
In that still glass, I saw no sign
95