Volume Ii Part 175 (2/2)
But he is nothing:--nothing? Only mark The rich light striking out from her on him!
Ha! what a sense it is when her eyes swim Across the man she singles, leaving dark All else! Lord G.o.d, who mad'st the thing so fair, See that I am drawn to her, even now!
It cannot be such harm on her cool brow To plant a kiss? Yet if I meet him there!
But she is mine! Ah, no! I know too well I claim a star whose light is overcast: I claim a phantom-woman in the Past.
The hour has struck, though I heard not the bell!
XIV What soul would bargain for a cure that brings Contempt the n.o.bler agony to kill?
Rather let me bear on the bitter ill, And strike this rusty bosom with new stings!
It seems there is another veering fit, Since on a gold-haired lady's eyeb.a.l.l.s pure, I looked with little prospect of a cure, The while her mouth's red bow loosed shafts of wit.
Just heaven! can it be true that jealousy Has decked the woman thus? and does her head Swim somewhat for possessions forfeited?
Madam, you teach me many things that be.
I open an old book, and there I find, That ”Women still may love whom they deceive.”
Such love I prize not, madam: by your leave, The game you play at is not to my mind.
XVI In our old s.h.i.+pwrecked days there was an hour When in the firelight steadily aglow, Joined slackly, we beheld the red chasm grow Among the clicking coals. Our library-bower That eve was left to us: and hushed we sat As lovers to whom Time is whispering.
From sudden-opened doors we heard them sing: The nodding elders mixed good wine with chat.
Well knew we that Life's greatest treasure lay With us, and of it was our talk. ”Ah, yes!
Love dies!” I said: I never thought it less.
She yearned to me that sentence to unsay.
Then when the fire domed blackening, I found Her cheek was salt against my kiss, and swift Up the sharp scale of sobs her breast did lift:-- Now am I haunted by that taste! that sound!
XXVI Love ere he bleeds, an eagle in high skies, Has earth beneath his wings: from reddened eve He views the rosy dawn. In vain they weave The fatal web below while far he flies.
But when the arrow strikes him, there's a change.
He moves but in the track of his spent pain, Whose red drops are the links of a harsh chain, Binding him to the ground, with narrow range.
A subtle serpent then has Love become.
I had the eagle in my bosom erst: Henceforward with the serpent I am cursed.
I can interpret where the mouth is dumb.
Speak, and I see the side-lie of a truth.
Perchance my heart may pardon you this deed: But be no coward:--you that made Love bleed, You must bear all the venom of his tooth!
XLI How many a thing which we cast to the ground, When others pick it up becomes a gem!
We grasp at all the wealth it is to them; And by reflected light its worth is found.
Yet for us still 'tis nothing! and that zeal Of false appreciation quickly fades.
This truth is little known to human shades, How rare from their own instinct 'tis to feel!
They waste the soul with spurious desire, That is not the ripe flame upon the bough.
We two have taken up a lifeless vow To rob a living pa.s.sion: dust for fire!
Madam is grave, and eyes the clock that tells Approaching midnight. We have struck despair Into two hearts. O, look we like a pair Who for fresh nuptials joyfully yield all else?
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