Part 6 (1/2)

The Captive

I want to take my heart away, Break it away from the branch where it clings; I want to quit the barren spray Where now no throstle sings.

The b.u.t.terflies have long since gone, Gone to the bough where the gay blossoms are; The sinking sun now bears the dawn To other lands afar.

I want to break my heart away, Tear it away from the bough where it grows; O for the light of a free new day, On the hill beyond the snows!

Possession's Anguish

One tree in my garden, one tree Out of all the forests of the world: One little s.h.i.+p afloat upon the sea, One sh.e.l.l beneath the waves, flawless and pearled:

One rose on my bower, one rose For a day to scatter on the gra.s.s: One s.h.i.+fting star agleam where the wind blows, One gem upheld, that all may share who pa.s.s:

One heart to be ached for, one heart Out of all the bosoms that are here: One fragile hope alive, the starver's part, One joy already faint and pale with fear:

One flame in the darkness, one flame For the night to sever with a breath: One poor faith fettered to a mortal name-- And over all, the beating wings of death....

Treasures of Poverty

I sometimes watch the lips of other women And think of all the kisses they have known; I sometimes touch the hands of other women In wonder at the memoried palms they own....

The kiss upon my brow was sadly given, The hands I held but once were not my own; And yet I would not change what I was given For all the kisses I have never known....

Nor would I change again my heart's white desert; O wondrous are the meetings I have known, And strange the eyes that seek me in the desert, Then smiling vanish to rejoin their own....

Solitude

Now empty lies the house. The languid air Unstirred by voices creeps from room to room; No footstep falls upon the silent stair, All's still and dark. In every nook the tomb Of some thought lies; remembrance everywhere Lingers to seek a joy no longer there; And, as I sit here lonely in the gloom, I ask myself which evil I would choose: Never to have, or else to have, and lose.

The Heart Asleep

Within me now my heart's asleep And none shall wake it more; The silence of all pain is deep Within me. Now my heart's asleep, It dreams of joys it might not keep; And nothing looks before Within me now. My heart's asleep And none shall wake it more.

Adversity

Black winds of the world!

There is pity in your breath, Against wild tempest weaponing.

Grey clouds of the sky!

You are gentle in your shade, Against night-darkness tempering.

Red wounds of the heart!