Till suddenly, and otherwhence,
I looked upon your innocence.
For lifted clear and still and strange
From the dark woven flow of change
Under a vast and starless sky
I saw the immortal moment lie.
One instant I, an instant, knew
As God knows all.  And it and you
I, above Time, oh, blind! could see
In witless immortality.
I saw the marble cup; the tea,
Hung on the air, an amber stream;
I saw the fire's unglittering gleam,
The painted flame, the frozen smoke.
No more the flooding lamplight broke
On flying eyes and lips and hair;
But lay, but slept unbroken there,
On stiller flesh, and body breathless,
And lips and laughter stayed and deathless,
And words on which no silence grew.
Light was more alive than you.

For suddenly, and otherwhence,
I looked on your magnificence.
I saw the stillness and the light,
And you, august, immortal, white,
Holy and strange; and every glint
Posture and jest and thought and tint
Freed from the mask of transiency,
Triumphant in eternity,
Immote, immortal.

                   Dazed at length
Human eyes grew, mortal strength
Wearied; and Time began to creep.
Change closed about me like a sleep.
Light glinted on the eyes I loved.
The cup was filled.  The bodies moved.
The drifting petal came to ground.
The laughter chimed its perfect round.
The broken syllable was ended.
And I, so certain and so friended,
How could I cloud, or how distress,
The heaven of your unconsciousness?
Or shake at Time's sufficient spell,
Stammering of lights unutterable?
The eternal holiness of you,
The timeless end, you never knew,
The peace that lay, the light that shone.
You never knew that I had gone
A million miles away, and stayed
A million years.  The laughter played
Unbroken round me; and the jest
Flashed on.  And we that knew the best
Down wonderful hours grew happier yet.
I sang at heart, and talked, and eat,
And lived from laugh to laugh, I too,
When you were there, and you, and you.

The Goddess in the Wood

In a flowered dell the Lady Venus stood,
 Amazed with sorrow.  Down the morning one
 Far golden horn in the gold of trees and sun
Rang out; and held; and died. . . .  She thought the wood
Grew quieter.  Wing, and leaf, and pool of light
 Forgot to dance.  Dumb lay the unfalling stream;
 Life one eternal instant rose in dream
Clear out of time, poised on a golden height. . . .

Till a swift terror broke the abrupt hour.
The gold waves purled amidst the green above her;
 And a bird sang.  With one sharp-taken breath,
By sunlit branches and unshaken flower,
The immortal limbs flashed to the human lover,
 And the immortal eyes to look on death.

A Channel Passage

The damned ship lurched and slithered.  Quiet and quick
 My cold gorge rose; the long sea rolled; I knew
I must think hard of something, or be sick;
 And could think hard of only one thing -- YOU!
You, you alone could hold my fancy ever!
 And with you memories come, sharp pain, and dole.
Now there's a choice -- heartache or tortured liver!
 A sea-sick body, or a you-sick soul!

Do I forget you?  Retchings twist and tie me,
 Old meat, good meals, brown gobbets, up I throw.
Do I remember?  Acrid return and slimy,
 The sobs and slobber of a last years woe.
And still the sick ship rolls.  'Tis hard, I tell ye,
To choose 'twixt love and nausea, heart and belly.

Victory

All night the ways of Heaven were desolate,
 Long roads across a gleaming empty sky.
 Outcast and doomed and driven, you and I,
Alone, serene beyond all love or hate,
Terror or triumph, were content to wait,
 We, silent and all-knowing.  Suddenly
 Swept through the heaven low-crouching from on high,
One horseman, downward to the earth's low gate.

Oh, perfect from the ultimate height of living,
 Lightly we turned, through wet woods blossom-hung,
Into the open.  Down the supernal roads,
 With plumes a-tossing, purple flags far flung,
Rank upon rank, unbridled, unforgiving,
 Thundered the black battalions of the Gods.

Day and Night

Through my heart's palace Thoughts unnumbered throng;
 And there, most quiet and, as a child, most wise,
High-throned you sit, and gracious.  All day long
 Great Hopes gold-armoured, jester Fantasies,
 And pilgrim Dreams, and little beggar Sighs,
Bow to your benediction, go their way.
 And the grave jewelled courtier Memories
Worship and love and tend you, all the day.

But when I sleep, and all my thoughts go straying,
 When the high session of the day is ended,
And darkness comes; then, with the waning light,
 By lilied maidens on your way attended,
Proud from the wonted throne, superbly swaying,
 You, like a queen, pass out into the night.

Experiments

Choriambics -- I

Ah! not now, when desire burns, and the wind calls, and the suns of spring
Light-foot dance in the woods, whisper of life, woo me to wayfaring;
Ah! not now should you come, now when the road beckons,
  and good friends call,
Where are songs to be sung, fights to be fought, yea! and the best of all,
Love, on myriad lips fairer than yours, kisses you could not give! . . .
Dearest, why should I mourn, whimper, and whine, I that have yet to live?
Sorrow will I forget, tears for the best, love on the lips of you,
Now, when dawn in the blood wakes, and the sun laughs up the eastern blue;
I'll forget and be glad!
                          Only at length, dear, when the great day ends,
When love dies with the last light, and the last song has been sung,
  and friends
All are perished, and gloom strides on the heaven:  then, as alone I lie,
'Mid Death's gathering winds, frightened and dumb, sick for the past, may I
Feel you suddenly there, cool at my brow; then may I hear the peace
Of your voice at the last, whispering love, calling, ere all can cease
In the silence of death; then may I see dimly, and know, a space,
Bending over me, last light in the dark, once, as of old, your face.

Choriambics -- II