POEMS



BY

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI.

FIFTH EDITION.

LONDON:

F.S. ELLIS, 33 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

1871.

   

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POEMS:
• THE BLESSED DAMOZEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• LOVE'S NOCTURN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• TROY TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
• THE BURDEN OF NINEVEH . . . . . . . . . . . .21
• EDEN BOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
• AVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
• THE STAFF AND SCRIP . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
• A LAST CONFESSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
• DANTE AT VERONA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
• JENNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
• THE PORTRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
• SISTER HELEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
• STRATTON WATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
• THE STREAM'S SECRET . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
• THE CARD-DEALER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
• MY SISTER'S SLEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
• A NEW YEAR'S BURDEN . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
• EVEN SO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
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• AN OLD SONG ENDED . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
• ASPECTA MEDUSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
• THREE TRANSLATIONS FROM FRANCOIS VILLON:
  • THE BALLAD OF DEAD LADIES . . . . . . 177
  • TO DEATH, OF HIS LADY . . . . . . . . 179
  • HIS MOTHER'S SERVICE TO OUR LADY . . . 180
• JOHN OF TOURS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
• MY FATHER'S CLOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
• ONE GIRL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

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Sonnets and Songs, towards a work to be called

‘The House of Life.’
• SONNETS:
  • I. BRIDAL BIRTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
  • II. LOVE'S REDEMPTION . . . . . . . . . . 190
  • III. LOVESIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
  • IV. THE KISS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
  • V. NUPTIAL SLEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
  • VI. SUPREME SURRENDER . . . . . . . . . . 194
  • VII. LOVE'S LOVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
  • VIII. PASSION AND WORSHIP. . . . . . . . . . 196
  • IX. THE PORTRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
  • X. THE LOVE-LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . 198
  • XI. THE BIRTH-BOND . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
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  • XII. A DAY OF LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
  • XIII. LOVE-SWEETNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
  • XIV. LOVE'S BAUBLES . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
  • XV. WINGED HOURS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
  • XVI. LIFE-IN-LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
  • XVII. THE LOVE-MOON . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
  • XVIII. THE MORROW'S MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . 206
  • XIX. SLEEPLESS DREAMS . . . . . . . . . . . 207
  • XX. SECRET PARTING . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
  • XXI. PARTED LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
  • XXII. BROKEN MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
  • XXIII. DEATH-IN-LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
  • XXIV.-VII.WILLOWWOOD . . . . . . . . . . . 212-15
  • XXVIII. STILLBORN LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
  • XXIX. INCLUSIVENESS . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
  • XXX. KNOWN IN VAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
  • XXXI. THE LANDMARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
  • XXXII. A DARK DAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
  • XXXIII. THE HILL SUMMIT . . . . . . . . . . . 221
  • XXXIV. BARREN SPRING . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
  • XXXV.-VII.THE CHOICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223-5
  • XXXVIII. HOARDED JOY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
  • XXXIX. VAIN VIRTUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
  • XL. LOST DAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
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  • XLI. DEATH'S SONGSTERS . . . . . . . . . . 229
  • XLII. ‘RETRO ME, SATHANA!’ . . . . . . . . . 230
  • XLIII. LOST ON BOTH SIDES . . . . . . . . . . 231
  • XLIV. THE SUN'S SHAME . . . . . . . . . . . 232
  • XLV. THE VASE OF LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . 233
  • XLVI. A SUPERSCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . 234
  • XLVII. HE AND I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
  • XLVIII.-IX. NEWBORN DEATH . . . . . . . . . . 236-7
  • L. THE ONE HOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

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• SONGS:
  • I. LOVE-LILY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
  • II. FIRST LOVE REMEMBERED . . . . . . . . .241
  • III. PLIGHTED PROMISE . . . . . . . . . . .242
  • IV. SUDDEN LIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
  • V. A LITTLE WHILE . . . . . . . . . . . .245
  • VI. THE SONG OF THE BOWER . . . . . . . . .247
  • VII. PENUMBRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
  • VIII. THE WOODSPURGE . . . . . . . . . . . .251
  • IX. THE HONEYSUCKLE . . . . . . . . . . . .252
  • X. A YOUNG FIR-WOOD . . . . . . . . . . .253
  • XI. THE SEA-LIMITS . . . . . . . . . . . .254

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SONNETS FOR PICTURES, AND OTHER SONNETS:
• FOR ‘OUR LADY OF THE ROCKS,’ BY LEONARDO
  
  DA VINCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
• FOR A VENETIAN PASTORAL, BY GIORGIONE . . . . . . . . . 260
• FOR AN ALLEGORICAL DANCE OF WOMEN, BY
  
  ANDREA MANTEGNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
• FOR RUGGIERO AND ANGELICA, BY INGRES . . . . . . . . 262-3
• FOR ‘THE WINE OF CIRCE,’ BY EDWARD BURNE
  
  JONES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
• MARY'S GIRLHOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
• THE PASSOVER IN THE HOLY FAMILY . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
• MARY MAGDALEN AT THE DOOR OF SIMON THE
  
  PHARISEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
• SAINT LUKE THE PAINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
• LILITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
• SIBYLLA PALMIFERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
• VENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
• CASSANDRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272-3
• PANDORA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
• ON REFUSAL OF AID BETWEEN NATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . 275
• ON THE ‘VITA NUOVA’ OF DANTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
• DANTIS TENEBRÆ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
• BEAUTY AND THE BIRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
• A MATCH WITH THE MOON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
• AUTUMN IDLENESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
• FAREWELL TO THE GLEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
• THE MONOCHORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

     

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• The blessed damozel leaned out
• From the gold bar of Heaven;
• Her eyes were deeper than the depth
• Of waters stilled at even;
• She had three lilies in her hand,
• And the stars in her hair were seven.

• Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,
• No wrought flowers did adorn,
• But a white rose of Mary's gift,
• 10 For service meetly worn;
• Her hair that lay along her back
• Was yellow like ripe corn.

• Herseemed she scarce had been a day
• One of God's choristers;
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• The wonder was not yet quite gone
• From that still look of hers;
• Albeit, to them she left, her day
• Had counted as ten years.

• (To one, it is ten years of years.
• 20 . . . Yet now, and in this place,
• Surely she leaned o'er me—her hair
• Fell all about my face. . . .
• Nothing: the autumn fall of leaves.
• The whole year sets apace.)

• It was the rampart of God's house
• That she was standing on;
• By God built over the sheer depth
• The which is Space begun;
• So high, that looking downward thence
• 30 She scarce could see the sun.

• It lies in Heaven, across the flood
• Of ether, as a bridge.
• Beneath, the tides of day and night
• With flame and darkness ridge
• The void, as low as where this earth
• Spins like a fretful midge.

• Heard hardly, some of her new friends
• Amid their loving games
• Spoke evermore among themselves
• 40 Their virginal chaste names;
• And the souls mounting up to God
• Went by her like thin flames.

• And still she bowed herself and stooped
• Out of the circling charm;
• Until her bosom must have made
• The bar she leaned on warm,
• And the lilies lay as if asleep
• Along her bended arm.

• From the fixed place of Heaven she saw
• 50 Time like a pulse shake fierce
• Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove
• Within the gulf to pierce
• Its path; and now she spoke as when
• The stars sang in their spheres.

• The sun was gone now; the curled moon
• Was like a little feather
• Fluttering far down the gulf; and now
• She spoke through the still weather.
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• Her voice was like the voice the stars
• 60 Had when they sang together.

• (Ah sweet! Even now, in that bird's song,
• Strove not her accents there,
• Fain to be hearkened? When those bells
• Possessed the mid-day air,
• Strove not her steps to reach my side
• Down all the echoing stair?)

• ‘I wish that he were come to me,
• For he will come,’ she said.
• ‘Have I not prayed in Heaven?—on earth,
• 70 Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd?
• Are not two prayers a perfect strength?
• And shall I feel afraid?

• ‘When round his head the aureole clings,
• And he is clothed in white,
• I'll take his hand and go with him
• To the deep wells of light;
• We will step down as to a stream,
• And bathe there in God's sight.

• ‘We two will stand beside that shrine,
• 80 Occult, withheld, untrod,
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• Whose lamps are stirred continually
• With prayer sent up to God;
• And see our old prayers, granted, melt
• Each like a little cloud.

• ‘We two will lie i'the shadow of
• That living mystic tree
• Within whose secret growth the Dove
• Is sometimes felt to be,
• While every leaf that His plumes touch
• 90 Saith His Name audibly.

• ‘And I myself will teach to him,
• I myself, lying so,
• The songs I sing here; which his voice
• Shall pause in, hushed and slow,
• And find some knowledge at each pause,
• Or some new thing to know.’

• (Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st!
• Yea, one wast thou with me
• That once of old. But shall God lift
• 100 To endless unity
• The soul whose likeness with thy soul
• Was but its love for thee?)

• ‘We two,’ she said, ‘will seek the groves
• Where the lady Mary is,
• With her five handmaidens, whose names
• Are five sweet symphonies,
• Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen,
• Margaret and Rosalys.

• ‘Circlewise sit they, with bound locks
• 110 And foreheads garlanded;
• Into the fine cloth white like flame
• Weaving the golden thread,
• To fashion the birth-robes for them
• Who are just born, being dead.

• ‘He shall fear, haply, and be dumb:
• Then will I lay my cheek
• To his, and tell about our love,
• Not once abashed or weak:
• And the dear Mother will approve
• 120 My pride, and let me speak.

• ‘Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,
• To Him round whom all souls
• Kneel, the clear-ranged unnumbered heads
• Bowed with their aureoles:
page: 7  
• And angels meeting us shall sing
• To their citherns and citoles.

• ‘There will I ask of Christ the Lord
• Thus much for him and me:—
• Only to live as once on earth
• 130 With Love,—only to be,
• As then awhile, for ever now
• Together, I and he.’

• She gazed and listened and then said,
• Less sad of speech than mild,—
• ‘All this is when he comes.’ She ceased.
• The light thrilled towards her, fill'd
• With angels in strong level flight.
• Her eyes prayed, and she smil'd.

• (I saw her smile.) But soon their path
• 140 Was vague in distant spheres:
• And then she cast her arms along
• The golden barriers,
• And laid her face between her hands,
• And wept. (I heard her tears.)

   

• Master of the murmuring courts
• Where the shapes of sleep convene!—
• Lo! my spirit here exhorts
• All the powers of thy demesne
• For their aid to woo my queen.
• What reports
• Yield thy jealous courts unseen?

• Vaporous, unaccountable,
• Dreamland lies forlorn of light,
• 10Hollow like a breathing shell.
• Ah! that from all dreams I might
• Choose one dream and guide its flight!
• I know well
• What her sleep should tell to-night.

• There the dreams are multitudes:
• Some whose buoyance waits not sleep,
• Deep within the August woods;
• Some that hum while rest may steep
• Weary labour laid a-heap;
• 20 Interludes,
• Some, of grievous moods that weep.

• Poets' fancies all are there:
• There the elf-girls flood with wings
• Valleys full of plaintive air;
• There breathe perfumes; there in rings
• Whirl the foam-bewildered springs;
• Siren there
• Winds her dizzy hair and sings.

• Thence the one dream mutually
• 30 Dreamed in bridal unison,
• Less than waking ecstasy;
• Half-formed visions that make moan
• In the house of birth alone;
• And what we
• At death's wicket see, unknown.

• But for mine own sleep, it lies
• In one gracious form's control,
• Fair with honorable eyes,
• Lamps of an auspicious soul:
• 40 O their glance is loftiest dole,
• Sweet and wise,
• Wherein Love descries his goal.

• Reft of her, my dreams are all
• Clammy trance that fears the sky:
• Changing footpaths shift and fall;
• From polluted coverts nigh,
• Miserable phantoms sigh;
• Quakes the pall,
• And the funeral goes by.

• 50Master, is it soothly said
• That, as echoes of man's speech
• Far in secret clefts are made,
• So do all men's bodies reach
• Shadows o'er thy sunken beach,—
• Shape or shade
• In those halls pourtrayed of each?

• Ah! might I, by thy good grace
• Groping in the windy stair,
• (Darkness and the breath of space
• 60 Like loud waters everywhere,)
• Meeting mine own image there
• Face to face,
• Send it from that place to her!

• Nay, not I; but oh! do thou,
• Master, from thy shadowkind
• Call my body's phantom now:
• Bid it bear its face declin'd
• Till its flight her slumbers find,
• And her brow
• 70Feel its presence bow like wind.

• Where in groves the gracile Spring
• Trembles, with mute orison
• Confidently strengthening,
• Water's voice and wind's as one
• Shed an echo in the sun.
• Soft as Spring,
• Master, bid it sing and moan.

• Song shall tell how glad and strong
• Is the night she soothes alway;
• 80Moan shall grieve with that parched tongue
• Of the brazen hours of day:
• Sounds as of the springtide they,
• Moan and song,
• While the chill months long for May.

• Not the prayers which with all leave
• The world's fluent woes prefer,—
• Not the praise the world doth give,
• Dulcet fulsome whisperer;—
• Let it yield my love to her,
• 90 And achieve
• Strength that shall not grieve or err.

• Wheresoe'er my dreams befall,
• Both at night-watch, (let it say,)
• And where round the sundial
• The reluctant hours of day,
• Heartless, hopeless of their way,
• Rest and call;—
• There her glance doth fall and stay.

• Suddenly her face is there:
• 100 So do mounting vapours wreathe
• Subtle-scented transports where
• The black firwood sets its teeth.
• Part the boughs and look beneath,—
• Lilies share
• Secret waters there, and breathe.

• Master, bid my shadow bend
• Whispering thus till birth of light,
• Lest new shapes that sleep may send
• Scatter all its work to flight;—
• 110 Master, master of the night,
• Bid it spend
• Speech, song, prayer, and end aright.

• Yet, ah me! if at her head
• There another phantom lean
• Murmuring o'er the fragrant bed,—
• Ah! and if my spirit's queen
• Smile those alien words between,—
• Ah! poor shade!
• Shall it strive, or fade unseen?

• 120How should love's own messenger
• Strive with love and be love's foe?
• Master, nay! If thus, in her,
• Sleep a wedded heart should show,—
• Silent let mine image go,
• Its old share
• Of thy spell-bound air to know.

• Like a vapour wan and mute,
• Like a flame, so let it pass;
• One low sigh across her lute,
• 130 One dull breath against her glass
• And to my sad soul, alas!
• One salute
• Cold as when death's foot shall pass.

• Then, too, let all hopes of mine,
• All vain hopes by night and day,
• Slowly at thy summoning sign
• Rise up pallid and obey.
• Dreams, if this is thus, were they:
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• Be they thine,
• 140 And to dreamland pine away.

• Yet from old time, life, not death,
• Master, in thy rule is rife:
• Lo! through thee, with mingling breath,
• Adam woke beside his wife.
• O Love bring me so, for strife,
• Force and faith,
• Bring me so not death but life!

• Yea, to Love himself is pour'd
• This frail song of hope and fear.
• 150Thou art Love, of one accord
• With kind Sleep to bring her near,
• Still-eyed, deep-eyed, ah how dear!
• Master, Lord,
• In her name implor'd, O hear!

   

• Heavenborn Helen, Sparta's queen,
• ( O Troy Town!)
• Had two breasts of heavenly sheen,
• The sun and moon of the heart's desire:
• All Love's lordship lay between.
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• Helen knelt at Venus' shrine,
• ( O Troy Town!)
• 10Saying, ‘A little gift is mine,
• A little gift for a heart's desire.
• Hear me speak and make me a sign!
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• ‘Look, I bring thee a carven cup;
• ( O Troy Town!)
• See it here as I hold it up,—
• Shaped it is to the heart's desire,
• Fit to fill when the gods would sup.
• 20 ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• ‘It was moulded like my breast;
• ( O Troy Town!)
• He that sees it may not rest,
• Rest at all for his heart's desire.
• O give ear to my heart's behest!
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• ‘See my breast, how like it is;
• 30 ( O 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;
• ( O Troy Town!)
• Thou must give it where 'tis due,
• Give it there to the heart's desire.
• 40Whom do I give my bosom to?
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• ‘Each twin breast is an apple sweet.
• ( O Troy Town!)
• Once an apple stirred the beat
• Of thy heart with the heart's desire:—
• Say, who brought it then to thy feet?
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• 50‘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!
• ( O 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,
• 60Taste and waste to the heart's desire:
• Mine are apples meet for his mouth.’
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• 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,
• 70 Tall Troy's on fire!)

• Venus looked in Helen's face,
• ( O Troy Town!)
• Knew far off an hour and place,
• And fire lit from the heart's desire;
• Laughed and said, ‘Thy gift hath grace!’
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• Cupid looked on Helen's breast,
• ( O Troy Town!)
• 80Saw 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!)

• Cupid took another dart,
• ( O Troy Town!)
• Fledged it for another heart,
• Winged the shaft with the heart's desire,
• Drew the string and said, ‘Depart!’
• 90 ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

• Paris turned upon his bed,
• ( O Troy Town!)
• Turned upon his bed and said,
• Dead at heart with the heart's desire,—
• ‘O to clasp her golden head!’
• ( O Troy's down,
• Tall Troy's on fire!)

   

• In our Museum galleries
• To-day I lingered o'er the prize
• Dead Greece vouchsafes to living eyes,—
• Her Art for ever in fresh wise
• From hour to hour rejoicing me.
• Sighing I turned at last to win
• Once more the London dirt and din;
• And as I made the swing-door spin
• And issued, they were hoisting in
• 10 A wingèd beast from Nineveh.

• A human face the creature wore,
• And hoofs behind and hoofs before,
• And flanks with dark runes fretted o'er.
• 'Twas bull, 'twas mitred Minotaur,
• A dead disbowelled mystery;
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• The mummy of a buried faith
• Stark from the charnel without scathe,
• Its wings stood for the light to bathe,—
• Such fossil cerements as might swathe
• 20 The very corpse of Nineveh.

• The print of its first rush-wrapping,
• Wound ere it dried, still ribbed the thing.
• What song did the brown maidens sing,
• From purple mouths alternating,
• When that was woven languidly?
• What vows, what rites, what prayers preferr'
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• What songs has the strange image heard?
• In what blind vigil stood interr'd
• For ages, till an English word
• 30 Broke silence first at Nineveh?

• Oh when upon each sculptured court,
• Where even the wind might not resort,—
• O'er which Time passed, of like import
• With the wild Arab boys at sport,—
• A living face looked in to see:—
• Oh seemed it not—the spell once broke—
• As though the carven warriors woke,
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• As though the shaft the string forsook,
• The cymbals clashed, the chariots shook,
• 40 And there was life in Nineveh?

• On London stones our sun anew
• The beast's recovered shadow threw.
• (No shade that plague of darkness knew,
• No light, no shade, while older grew
• By ages the old earth and sea.)
• Lo thou! could all thy priests have shown
• Such proof to make thy godhead known?
• From their dead Past thou liv'st alone;
• And still thy shadow is thine own
• 50 Even as of yore in Nineveh.

• That day whereof we keep record,
• When near thy city-gates the Lord
• Sheltered his Jonah with a gourd,
• This sun, (I said) here present, pour'd
• Even thus this shadow that I see.
• This shadow has been shed the same
• From sun and moon,—from lamps which came
• For prayer,—from fifteen days of flame,
• The last, while smouldered to a name
• 60 Sardanapalus' Nineveh.

• Within thy shadow, haply, once
• Sennacherib has knelt, whose sons
• Smote him between the altar-stones:
• Or pale Semiramis her zones
• Of gold, her incense brought to thee,
• In love for grace, in war for aid: . . . .
• Ay, and who else? . . . . till 'neath thy shade
• Within his trenches newly made
• Last year the Christian knelt and pray'd—
• 70 Not to thy strength—in Nineveh.*

• Now, thou poor god, within this hall
• Where the blank windows blind the wall
• From pedestal to pedestal,
• The kind of light shall on thee fall
• Which London takes the day to be:
• While school-foundations in the act
• Of holiday, three files compact,
• Shall learn to view thee as a fact
• Connected with that zealous tract:
• 80 ‘Rome,—Babylon and Nineveh.’

• Deemed they of this, those worshippers,
• When, in some mythic chain of verse
• Which man shall not again rehearse,
• The faces of thy ministers
• Yearned pale with bitter ecstasy?
• Greece, Egypt, Rome,—did any god
• Before whose feet men knelt unshod
• Deem that in this unblest abode
• Another scarce more unknown god
• 90 Should house with him, from Nineveh?

• Ah! in what quarries lay the stone
• From which this pillared pile has grown,
• Unto man's need how long unknown,
• Since those thy temples, court and cone,
• Rose far in desert history?
• Ah! what is here that does not lie
• All strange to thine awakened eye?
• Ah! what is here can testify
• (Save that dumb presence of the sky)
• 100 Unto thy day and Nineveh?

• Why, of those mummies in the room
• Above, there might indeed have come
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• One out of Egypt to thy home,
• An alien. Nay, but were not some
• Of these thine own ‘antiquity?’
• And now,—they and their gods and thou
• All relics here together,—now
• Whose profit? whether bull or cow,
• Isis or Ibis, who or how,
• 110 Whether of Thebes or Nineveh?

• The consecrated metals found,
• And ivory tablets, underground,
• Winged teraphim and creatures crown'd,
• When air and daylight filled the mound,
• Fell into dust immediately.
• And even as these, the images
• Of awe and worship,—even as these,—
• So, smitten with the sun's increase,
• Her glory mouldered and did cease
• 120 From immemorial Nineveh.

• The day her builders made their halt,
• Those cities of the lake of salt
• Stood firmly 'stablished without fault,
• Made proud with pillars of basalt,
• With sardonyx and porphyry.
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• The day that Jonah bore abroad
• To Nineveh the voice of God,
• A brackish lake lay in his road,
• Where erst Pride fixed her sure abode,
• 130 As then in royal Nineveh.

• The day when he, Pride's lord and Man's,
• Showed all the kingdoms at a glance
• To Him before whose countenance
• The years recede, the years advance,
• And said, Fall down and worship me:—
• 'Mid all the pomp beneath that look,
• Then stirred there, haply, some rebuke,
• Where to the wind the Salt Pools shook,
• And in those tracts, of life forsook,
• 140 That knew thee not, O Nineveh!

• Delicate harlot! On thy throne
• Thou with a world beneath thee prone
• In state for ages sat'st alone;
• And needs were years and lustres flown
• Ere strength of man could vanquish thee:
• Whom even thy victor foes must bring,
• Still royal, among maids that sing
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• As with doves' voices, taboring
• Upon their breasts, unto the King,—
• 150 A kingly conquest, Nineveh!

• . . . Here woke my thought. The wind's slow sway
• Had waxed; and like the human play
• Of scorn that smiling spreads away,
• The sunshine shivered off the day:
• The callous wind, it seemed to me,
• Swept up the shadow from the ground:
• And pale as whom the Fates astound,
• The god forlorn stood winged and crown'd:
• Within I knew the cry lay bound
• 160 Of the dumb soul of Nineveh.

• And as I turned, my sense half shut
• Still saw the crowds of kerb and rut
• Go past as marshalled to the strut
• Of ranks in gypsum quaintly cut.
• It seemed in one same pageantry
• They followed forms which had been erst;
• To pass, till on my sight should burst
• That future of the best or worst
• When some may question which was first,
• 170 Of London or of Nineveh.

• For as that Bull-god once did stand
• And watched the burial-clouds of sand,
• Till these at last without a hand
• Rose o'er his eyes, another land,
• And blinded him with destiny:—
• So may he stand again; till now,
• In ships of unknown sail and prow,
• Some tribe of the Australian plough
• Bear him afar,—a relic now
• 180 Of London, not of Nineveh!

• Or it may chance indeed that when
• Man's age is hoary among men,—
• His centuries threescore and ten,—
• His furthest childhood shall seem then
• More clear than later times may be:
• Who, finding in this desert place
• This form, shall hold us for some race
• That walked not in Christ's lowly ways,
• But bowed its pride and vowed its praise
• 190 Unto the God of Nineveh.

• The smile rose first,—anon drew nigh
• The thought: . . . Those heavy wings spread high
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• So sure of flight, which do not fly;
• That set gaze never on the sky;
• Those scriptured flanks it cannot see;
• Its crown, a brow-contracting load;
• Its planted feet which trust the sod: . . .
• (So grew the image as I trod:)
• O Nineveh, was this thy God,—
• 200 Thine also, mighty Nineveh?

   

• It was Lilith the wife of Adam:
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Not a drop of her blood was human,
• But she was made like a soft sweet woman.

• Lilith stood on the skirts of Eden;
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• She was the first that thence was driven;
• With her was hell and with Eve was heaven.

• In the ear of the Snake said Lilith:—
• 10 ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• ‘To thee I come when the rest is over;
• A snake was I when thou wast my lover.

• ‘I was the fairest snake in Eden:
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• By the earth's will, new form and feature
• Made me a wife for the earth's new creature.

• ‘Take me thou as I come from Adam:
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Once again shall my love subdue thee;
• 20The past is past and I am come to thee.

• ‘O but Adam was thrall to Lilith!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• All the threads of my hair are golden,
• And there in a net his heart was holden.

• ‘O and Lilith was queen of Adam!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• All the day and the night together
• My breath could shake his soul like a feather.

• ‘What great joys had Adam and Lilith!—
• 30 ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Sweet close rings of the serpent's twining,
• As heart in heart lay sighing and pining.

• ‘What bright babes had Lilith and Adam!—
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Shapes that coiled in the woods and waters,
• Glittering sons and radiant daughters.

• ‘O thou God, the Lord God of Eden!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Say, was this fair body for no man,
• 40That of Adam's flesh thou mak'st him a woman?

• ‘O thou Snake, the King-snake of Eden!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• God's strong will our necks are under,
• But thou and I may cleave it in sunder.

• ‘Help, sweet Snake, sweet lover of Lilith!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• And let God learn how I loved and hated
• Man in the image of God created.

• ‘Help me once against Eve and Adam!
• 50 ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Help me once for this one endeavour,
• And then my love shall be thine for ever!

• ‘Strong is God, the fell foe of Lilith:
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Nought in heaven or earth may affright him;
• But join thou with me and we will smite him.

• ‘Strong is God, the great God of Eden:
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Over all He made He hath power;
• 60But lend me thou thy shape for an hour!

• ‘Lend thy shape for the love of Lilith!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Look, my mouth and my cheek are ruddy,
• And thou art cold, and fire is my body.

• ‘Lend thy shape for the hate of Adam!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• That he may wail my joy that forsook him,
• And curse the day when the bride-sleep took him.

• ‘Lend thy shape for the shame of Eden!
• 70 ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Is not the foe-God weak as the foeman
• When love grows hate in the heart of a woman?

• ‘Would'st thou know the heart's hope of Lilith?
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Then bring thou close thine head till it glisten
• Along my breast, and lip me and listen.

• ‘Am I sweet, O sweet Snake of Eden?
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Then ope thine ear to my warm mouth's cooing
• 80And learn what deed remains for our doing.

• ‘Thou didst hear when God said to Adam:—
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• “Of all this wealth I have made thee warden;
• Thou'rt free to eat of the trees of the garden:

• ‘“Only of one tree eat not in Eden;
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• All save one I give to thy freewill,—
• The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”

• ‘O my love, come nearer to Lilith!
• 90 ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• In thy sweet folds bind me and bend me,
• And let me feel the shape thou shalt lend me!

• ‘In thy shape I'll go back to Eden;
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• In these coils that Tree will I grapple,
• And stretch this crowned head forth by the apple.

• ‘Lo, Eve bends to the breath of Lilith!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• O how then shall my heart desire
• 100All her blood as food to its fire!

• ‘Lo, Eve bends to the words of Lilith!—
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• “Nay, this Tree's fruit,—why should ye hate it,
• Or Death be born the day that ye ate it?

• ‘“Nay, but on that great day in Eden,
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• By the help that in this wise Tree is,
• God knows well ye shall be as He is.”

• ‘Then Eve shall eat and give unto Adam;
• 110 ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• And then they both shall know they are naked,
• And their hearts ache as my heart hath achèd.

• ‘Aye, let them hide in the trees of Eden,
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• As in the cool of the day in the garden
• God shall walk without pity or pardon.

• ‘Hear, thou Eve, the man's heart in Adam!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Of his brave words hark to the bravest:—
• 120“This the woman gave that thou gavest.”

• ‘Hear Eve speak, yea, list to her, Lilith!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Feast thine heart with words that shall sate it—
• “This the serpent gave and I ate it.”

• ‘O proud Eve, cling close to thine Adam,
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Driven forth as the beasts of his naming
• By the sword that for ever is flaming.

• ‘Know, thy path is known unto Lilith!
• 130 ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• While the blithe birds sang at thy wedding,
• There her tears grew thorns for thy treading.

• ‘O my love, thou Love-snake of Eden!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• O to-day and the day to come after!
• Loose me, love,—give breath to my laughter!

• ‘O bright Snake, the Death-worm of Adam!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Wreathe thy neck with my hair's bright tether,
• 140And wear my gold and thy gold together!

• ‘On that day on the skirts of Eden,
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• In thy shape shall I glide back to thee,
• And in my shape for an instant view thee.

• ‘But when thou'rt thou and Lilith is Lilith,
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• In what bliss past hearing or seeing
• Shall each one drink of the other's being!

• ‘With cries of “Eve!” and “Eden!” and “Adam!”
• 150 ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• How shall we mingle our love's caresses,
• I in thy coils, and thou in my tresses!

• ‘With those names, ye echoes of Eden,
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Fire shall cry from my heart that burneth,—
• “Dust he is and to dust returneth!”

• ‘Yet to-day, thou master of Lilith,—
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Wrap me round in the form I'll borrow
• 160And let me tell thee of sweet to-morrow.

• ‘In the planted garden eastward in Eden,
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Where the river goes forth to water the garden,
• The springs shall dry and the soil shall harden.

• ‘Yea, where the bride-sleep fell upon Adam,
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• None shall hear when the storm-wind whistles
• Through roses choked among thorns and thistles.

• ‘Yea, beside the east-gate of Eden,
• 170 ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Where God joined them and none might sever,
• The sword turns this way and that for ever.

• ‘What of Adam cast out of Eden?
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Lo! with care like a shadow shaken,
• He tills the hard earth whence he was taken.

• ‘What of Eve too, cast out of Eden?
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• Nay, but she, the bride of God's giving,
• 180Must yet be mother of all men living.

• ‘Lo, God's grace, by the grace of Lilith!
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• To Eve's womb, from our sweet to-morrow,
• God shall greatly multiply sorrow.

• ‘Fold me fast, O God-snake of Eden!
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• What more prize than love to impel thee?
• Grip and lip my limbs as I tell thee!

• ‘Lo! two babes for Eve and for Adam!
• 190 ( And O the bower and the hour!)
• Lo! sweet Snake, the travail and treasure,—
• Two men-children born for their pleasure!

• ‘The first is Cain and the second Abel:
• ( Eden bower's in flower.)
• The soul of one shall be made thy brother,
• And thy tongue shall lap the blood of the other.’
• ( And O the bower and the hour!)

   

• Mother of the Fair Delight,
• Thou handmaid perfect in God's sight,
• Now sitting fourth beside the Three,
• Thyself a woman-Trinity,—
• Being a daughter borne to God,
• Mother of Christ from stall to rood,
• And wife unto the Holy Ghost:—
• Oh when our need is uttermost,
• Think that to such as death may strike
• 10Thou once wert sister sisterlike!
• Thou headstone of humanity,
• Groundstone of the great Mystery,
• Fashioned like us, yet more than we!

• Mind'st thou not (when June's heavy breath
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• Warmed the long days in Nazareth,)
• That eve thou didst go forth to give
• Thy flowers some drink that they might live
• One faint night more amid the sands?
• Far off the trees were as pale wands
• 20Against the fervid sky: the sea
• Sighed further off eternally
• As human sorrow sighs in sleep.
• Then suddenly the awe grew deep,
• As of a day to which all days
• Were footsteps in God's secret ways:
• Until a folding sense, like prayer,
• Which is, as God is, everywhere,
• Gathered about thee; and a voice
• Spake to thee