Songs of the Spirit
The censer swings to slower time, The darkness falleth deep : My eyes, so solemn and sublime, Relent, and close, and weep : And on the silence, like a chime, I heard the wings of Sleep. 97
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The censer swings to slower time, The darkness falleth deep : My eyes, so solemn and sublime, Relent, and close, and weep : And on the silence, like a chime, I heard the wings of Sleep. 97
… My pure desires arose and cast out love That flew away, most like a wounded dove, Only the drops were mine its bosom bled, Now the last time it hovers by my head : “ Now the last time I turn and go to her.” The violet smiled at him : his fingers fair Plucked the sweet blossom to his breast ; his eyes Mused like delight, and like desire were wise. There was a maiden like the sun, to whom His footsteps turned amid the myriad bloom Of flowers and leafy pathways of the wood, Where, in a dell of roses white, she stood. He came to her and looked so …
…piteous Splendidly flash within the silver sphere Of light, and there I lose them at the last Most wonderfully passed within the veil Of Time ; caught up into the Infinite. Lay them together. And the hollow hill Shall echo me “ together,” and the sky, And the wide sea, and all the fragrant air, Shall linger in the tumult of the dawn. Lay them together. And the still small voice Shall whisper “ Peace,” and in the evening “ Peace.” 35
…e fires illuminate my brow Lit of the Holy Ghost ; I see the angel figures bow On heaven’s silent coast. Eternity, a wheel of light, And Time, a fleece of snow, I saw, and deep beyond the night, The steady mystic glow Of that lamp’s flame unearthly bright That watches Earth below. Long avenues of sleepy trees And bowers arched with love, And kisses woven for a breeze, And lips that scarcely move, Save as long ripples on the seas, That murmur like a dove. I saw the burning lips of God Set fast on Mary’s face, 94
…l the steep Pathways of heaven gleam with loftier fires Than earth’s desires. So shalt thou conquer Space, and lastly climb The walls of Time, And by the golden path the great have trod Reach up to God ! ” 101
…ight Half hides the ivory throne, Lay in my arms the livelong night To call my soul her own. The Christ’s cold lips my lips did taste On Time’s disastrous tide, His bruiséd arms my soul embraced, My soul twice crucified ; 95
That is not seeing, but the light That secretly is kindled, Though oft time its most holy fire Lacks oil, whene’er my own Desire Before desire has dwindled. I see the thin web binding me With thirteen cords of unity Toward the calm centre of the sea. (O thou supernal mother !) The triple light my path divides To twain and fifty sudden sides Each perfect as each other. Now backwards, inwards still my mind Must track the intangible and blind, And seeking, shall securely find Hidden in secret places Fresh feasts for every soul that strives, New li…
So brake the soul, as newly re-arisen Beyond the years. Far above Space and Time, that earth environ With bands and bars we strive against in vain, Far o’er the world, and all its triple iron And brazen chain, Far from the change that men call life fled higher Into the world immutable of sleep, We see our loved one, and vain eyes desire In vain to weep. Woeful our gaze, if on Ione Earth descendent, To view the absence of yon flame afar— Yet in the Heavens, anew, divine, resplendent, Behold a star ! One light the less, that steady flamed and eve…
…e transcending everything alway, Pity me, pity, since the poisonous root Of parting strikes the beauty of the day ; We meet for the last time beside the ocean gray. Soul of my soul, we never can forget— But, is our parting burnt across the skies ? Is the last word said ? Must our lips be set Not to new song, but to the bitter sighs As of a child whose flower-garden dies, Who knows no hope of some enduring spring ? 41
…e cruel for the vampire thrust ! Let Sleep’s desire be sweet as Death, And Love be clean as Lust ! I died amid her kisses : so This last time I would not forget— So I attained The Life ; and know Her lips and God’s have met. 24
No chords for my memory bring ; Those lips like a soul that are clinging most silently cling. Take though for these verses, though time be So sure and so swift for thy feet, Though far from this England thy clime be In years that sway slow as the wheat, Take thought, for an hour let my rhyme be not wholly unsweet. For truth and desire and devotion May lend through the verses a voice, They tremble with violent motion, They yearn to be fair for thy choice As billows and winds of the ocean that roar and rejoice. For winds that are shaken and riven…
Which dips, one wide black shaft, most horrible, Down to the nether Hell. Yet there seems time. God’s grief has not forgotten His mighty arm, and with His pitying breath A strong wind woke me ere my boat grew rotten With venom of the stream, that quivereth Now as He blew upon it—fish and bird Live at that silent word ! And I arose to seek the oars of Lying Wherewith I had embarked—the wind had torn Their wood to splinters—“ Jesus ! I am dying ! Send me Thy cross to fashion some unborn Oarage of Truth to quit this stream of Death ! ” O vain, O w…
…his soul did faint ! I will not turn toward Sodom any more, Lest its ripe glades of fruit waft up their scent, And draw me to them, what time heavens pour Brimstone and fire from out the firmament, And all my substance in its fall be spent ; Lest I lie there beneath a barren sea Forgotten of high God, until there went The final trumpet of the dead, who flee Vainly that fearful blast of judgment. Woe is Me ! My feet, in spite of me, in circles bend ; I meet my own tracks often, all in vain I seek some tower or cliff to make an end, I find no obj…