"Oh, Adam! What have I dreamed?
Now do I understand His words, so dim To creatures that had quivered but with bliss!
Since at the dusk thy kiss to me, and I Wept at caresses that were once all joy, I have slept, seeing through Futurity The uncreated ages visibly!
Foresuffering phantoms crowded in the womb Of Time, and all with lamentable mien Accusing without mercy, thee and me!
And without pity! for tho" some were far From birth, and without name, others were near-- Sodom and dark Gomorrah--from whose flames Fleeing one turned ... how like her look to mine When the tree"s horror trembled on my taste!
And Babylon upbuilded on our sin; And Nineveh, a city sinking slow Under a shroud of sandy centuries That hid me not from the buried cursing eyes Of women who e"er-bitterly gave birth!
Ah, to be mother of all misery!
To be first-called out of the earth and fail For a whole world! To shame maternity For women evermore--women whose tears Flooding the night, no hope can wipe away!
To see the wings of Death, as, Adam, thou Hast not, endlessly beating, and to hear The swooning ages suffer up to G.o.d!
And Oh, that birth-cry of a guiltless child In it are sounding of our sin and woe, With prophesy of ill beyond all years!
Yearning for beauty never to be seen-- Beat.i.tude redeemless evermore!
"And I whose dream mourned with all motherhood Must hear it soon! Already do soft skill, a.s.suasive lulls, enticings and quick tones Of tenderness--that will like light awake The folded memory children shall bring Out of the dark--move in me longingly.
Yet thou, Adam, dear fallen thought of G.o.d, Thou, when thou too shall hear humanity Cry in thy child, wilt groaning wish the world Back in unsummoned Void! and, woe! wilt fill G.o.d"s ear with troubled wonder and unrest!"
Softly he soothed her straying hair, and kissed The fever from her lips. Over the palms The sad moon poured her peace into their eyes, Till Sleep, the angel of forgetfulness, Folded again dark wings above their rest.
MARY AT NAZARETH
I know, Lord, Thou hast sent Him-- Thou art so good to me!-- But Thou hast only lent Him, His heart"s for Thee!
I dared--Thy poor hand-maiden-- Not ask a prophet-child: Only a boy-babe laden For earth--and mild.
But this one Thou hast given Seems not for earth--or me!
His lips flame truth from heaven, And vanity
Seem all my thoughts and prayers When He but speaks Thy Law; Out of my heart the tares Are torn by awe!
I cannot look upon Him, So strangely burn His eyes-- Hath not some grieving drawn Him From Paradise?
For Thee, for Thee I"d live, Lord!
Yet oft I almost fall Before Him--Oh, forgive, Lord, My sinful thrall!
But e"en when He was nursing, A baby at my breast, It seemed He was dispersing The world"s unrest.
Thou bad"st me call Him "Jesus,"
And from our heavy sin I know He shall release us, From Sheol win.
But, Lord, forgive! the yearning That He may sometimes be Like other children, learning Beside my knee,
Or playing, prattling, seeking For help--comes to my heart....
Ah sinful, Lord, I"m speaking-- How good Thou art!
ADELIL
Proud Adelil! Proud Adelil!
Why does she lie so cold?
(I made her shrink, I made her reel, I made her white lids fold.)
We sat at banquet, many maids, She like a Valkyr free.
(I hated the glitter of her braids, I hated her blue eye"s glee!)
In emerald cups was poured the mead; Icily blew the night.
(But tears unshed and woes that bleed Brew bitterness and spite.)
"A goblet to my love!" she cried, "Prince where the sea-winds fly!"
(Her love!--it was for that he died, And for it she should die.)
She lifted the cup and drank--she saw A heart within its lees.
(I laughed like the dead who feel the thaw Of summer in the breeze.)
They looked upon her stricken still, And sudden they grew appalled.
("It is thy lover"s heart!" I shrill As the sea-crow to her called.)
Palely she took it--did it give Ease there against her breast?
(Dead--dead she swooned, but I cannot live, And dead I shall not rest.)
INTIMATION
All night I smiled as I slept, For I heard the March-wind feel Blindly about in the trees without For buds to heal.
All night in dreams, for I smelt, In the rain-wet woods and fields, The coming flowers and the glad green hours That summer yields.
All night--and when at dawn I woke with the blue-bird"s cheep, Winter with all its chill and pall Seemed but a sleep.
IN JULY
This path will tell me where dark daisies dance To the white sycamores that dell them in; Where crow and flicker cry melodious din, And blackberries in ebon ripeness glance Luscious enticings under briery green.
It will slip under coppice limbs that lean Brushingly as the slow-belled heifer pants Toward weedy water-plants That shade the pool-sunk creek"s reluctant trance.
I shall find bell-flower spires beside the gap And lady phlox within the hollow"s cool; Cedar with sudden memories of Yule Above the tangle tipped with blue skullcap.
The high hot mullein fond of the full sun Will watch and tell the low mint when I"ve won The hither wheat where idle breezes nap, And fluffy quails entrap Me from their brood that crouch to escape mishap.
Then I shall reach the mossy water-way That gullies the dense hill up to its peak, There dally listening to the eerie eke Of drops into cool chalices of clay.