Part 6 (1/2)

Sadness of the Moon-G.o.ddess

To-night the Moon dreams with increased weariness, Like a beauty stretched forth on a downy heap Of rugs, while her languorous fingers caress The contour of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, before falling to sleep.

On the satin back of the avalanche soft, She falls into lingering swoons, as she dies, While she lifteth her eyes to white visions aloft, Which like efflorescence float up to the skies.

When at times, in her languor, down on to this sphere, She slyly lets trickle a furtive tear, A poet, desiring slumber to shun,

Takes up this pale tear in the palm of his hand (The colours of which like an opal blend), And buries it far from the eyes of the sun.

Cats

All ardent lovers and all sages prize, --As ripening years incline upon their brows-- The mild and mighty cats--pride of the house-- That like unto them are indolent, stern and wise.

The friends of Learning and of Ecstasy, They search for silence and the horrors of gloom; The devil had used them for his steeds of Doom, Could he alone have bent their pride to slavery.

When musing, they display those outlines chaste, Of the great sphinxes--stretched o'er the sandy waste, That seem to slumber deep in a dream without end:

From out their loins a fountainous furnace flies, And grains of sparkling gold, as fine as sand, Bestar the mystic pupils of their eyes.

Owls

Beneath the shades of sombre yews, The silent owls sit ranged in rows, Like ancient idols, strangely pose, And darting fiery eyes, they muse.

Immovable, they sit and gaze, Until the melancholy hour, At which the darknesses devour The faded sunset's slanting rays.

Their att.i.tude, instructs the wise, That he--within this world--who flies From tumult and from merriment;

The man allured by a pa.s.sing face, For ever bears the chastis.e.m.e.nt Of having wished to change his place.

Music

Oft Music possesses me like the seas!

To my planet pale, 'Neath a ceiling of mist, in the lofty breeze, I set my sail.

With inflated lungs and expanded chest, Like to a sail, On the backs of the heaped-up billows I rest-- Which the shadows veil--