My hair was over in the grass, My eyes, wide open, had the run one. From perfect grief there need not be One thing then learnt remains to me.- THE HONEYSUCKLE I PLUCKED a honeysuckle where The hedge on high is quick with thorn, And climbing for the prize, was torn, And fouled my feet in quag-water; And by the thorns and by the wind The blossom that I took was thinn'd And yet I found it sweet and fair. Thence to a richer growth I came, Where, nursed in mellow intercourse, The honeysuckles sprang by scores, Not harried like my single stem, All virgin lamps of scent and dew. So from my hand that first I threw. Yet plucked not any more of them. 1870. TROY TOWN HEAVENBORN HELEN, Sparta's queen, Had two breasts of heavenly sheen, (0 Troy's down, Helen knelt at Venus' shrine, (O Troy Town!) Saying "A little gift is mine, "Look, I bring thee a carven cup; See it here as I hold it up,- "It was moulded like my breast; He that sees it may not rest, (0 Troy's down, Tall Troy's on fire!) See my breast, how like it is; (0 Troy Town!) · See it bare for the air to kiss! Is the cup to thy heart's desire? O for the breast, O make it his! (O Troy's down, Tall Troy's on fire!) "Yea, for my bosom here I sue: (0 Troy Town!) Thou must give it where 't is due, Give it there to the heart's desire. Whom do I give my bosom to? (O Troy's down, Tall Troy's on fire!) "Each twin breast is an apple sweet! (0 Troy Town!) Once an apple stirred the beat Tall Troy's on fire!) "They that claimed it then were three: (O Troy Town!) For thy sake two hearts did he Make forlorn of the heart's desire. Do for him as he did for thee! (0 Troy's down, Tall Troy's on fire!) “Mine are apples grown to the south, (O Troy Town!) Grown to taste in the days of drouth, Venus looked on Helen's gift, (O Troy Town!) Looked and smiled with subtle drift, Saw the work of her heart's desire :"There thou kneel'st for Love to lift! (O Troy's down, Tall Troy's on fire!) Venus looked in Helen's face, (0 Troy Town!) 99 Knew far off an hour and place, grace!" Cupid looked on Helen's breast, Saw the heart within its nest, Saw the flame of the heart's desire,Marked his arrow's burning crest. (O Troy's down, Tall Troy's on fire!) Surely thy speech shall be of her. Thou water, O thou whispering wanderer, What message dost thou bring? Say, hath not Love leaned low This hour beside thy far well-head, And there through jealous hollowed fingers said The thing that most I long to know,Murmuring with curls all dabbled in thy flow And washed lips rosy red? He told it to thee there Where thy voice hath a louder tone; But where it welters to this little moan His will decrees that I should hear. Now speak for with the silence is no fear, That thou dost ill expound the words of Love. Even as thine eddy's rippling race Would blur the perfect image of his face I will have none thereof. O learn and understand That 'gainst the wrongs himself did wreak Love sought her aid; until her shadowy cheek And eyes beseeching gave command: And compassed in her close compassionate hand My heart must burn and speak. For then at last we spoke What eyes so oft had told to eyes Through that long-lingering silence whose half-sighs Alone the buried secret broke, Which with snatched hands and lips' reverberate stroke Then from the heart did rise. But she is far away Now; nor the hours of night grown hoar Bring yet to me, long gazing from the door, The wind-stirred robe of roseate gray And rose-crown of the hour that leads the day When we shall meet once more. Dark as thy blinded wave When brimming midnight floods the glen, Bright as the laughter of thy runnels when The dawn yields all the light they crave; Even so these hours to wound and that to save Are sisters in Love's ken. Oh sweet her bending grace Then when I kneel beside her feet: And sweet her eyes' o'erhanging heaven; and sweet The gathering folds of her embrace; And her fall'n hair at last shed round my face When breaths and tears shall meet. Beneath her sheltering hair, In the warm silence near her breast. Our kisses and our sobs shall sink to rest; As in some still trance made aware The quivering notes shall throng. Till tenderest words found vain Draw back to wonder mute and deep, And closed lips in closed arms a silence keep, Subdued by memory's circling strain,-The wind-rapt sound that the wind brings again While all the willows weep. Then by her summoning art Shall memory conjure back the sere Autumnal Springs, from many a dying year Born dead; and, bitter to the heart, The very ways where now we walk apart Who then shall cling so near. And with each thought new-grown, Some sweet caress or some sweet name Low-breathed shall let me know her thought the same: Making me rich with every tone And touch of the dear heaven so long unknown That filled my dreams with flame. Pity and love shall burn In her pressed cheek and cherishing hands; And from the living spirit of love that stands Between her lips to soothe and yearn, Each separate breath shall clasp me round in turn And loose my spirit's bands. Oh passing sweet and dear, Then when the worshipped form and face Are felt at length in darkling close em brace; Round which so oft the sun shone clear, With mocking light and pitiless atmosphere, In many an hour and place. With thee; nor even so sad and poor a heart As thou hast spurned to-day. To-day? Lo! night is here. The glen grows heavy with some veil Risen from the earth or fall'n to make earth pale; And all stands hushed to eye and ear, Until the night-wind shake the shade like fear And every covert quail. Ah! by another wave On other airs the hour must come Which to thy heart, my love, shall call me home. Between the lips of the low cave Against that night the lapping waters lave, And the dark lips are dumb. But there Love's self doth stand, And with Life's weary wings far flown, And with Death's eyes that make the water moan, Gathers the water in his hand : And they that drink know nought of sky or land But only love alone. O soul-sequestered face Far off,-O were that night but now! So even beside that stream even I and thou |