At Night
Crazed shadows, from no golden body
That I can see, embrace me warm ;
All is purple and closed
Round by night's arm.
A brilliance wings from dark-lit voices,
Wild lost voices of shadows white
See the long houses lean
To the weird flight.
Star amorous things that wake at sleep-time
(Because the sun spreads wide like a tree
With no good fruit for them)
Thrill secrecy.
Pale horses ride before the morning,
The secret roots of the sun to tread,
With hoofs shod with venom
And ageless dread;
To breathe on burning emerald grasses
And opalescent dews of the day,
And poison at the core
What smiles may stray.
From Night And Day
IN THE WORKSHOP
Dim watery lights gleaming on gibbering faces,
Faces speechful, barren of soul and sordid,
Huddled and chewing a jest, lewd and gabbled
insidious:
Laughter, born of its dung, flashes and floods like sunlight,
Filling the room with a sense of a soul lethargic and kindly,
Touches my soul with a pathos, a hint of a wide desolation.
II
I saw the face of God to-day,
I heard the music of His smile,
And yet I was not far away,
And yet in Paradise the while.
I lay upon the sparkling grass,
And God's own mouth was kissing me,
And there was nothing that did pass
But blazed with divinity.
Divine-divine-upon my eyes,
Upon mine hair-divine--divine,
The fervour of the golden skies,
The ardent gaze of God on mine.
III
Then snake I to the tree, '
Were ye your own desire
What is it ye would be?'
Answered the tree to me,
'I am my own desire,
I am what 1 would be.
' If you were your desire
Would you lie under me,
And see me as you see?'
'I am my own desire
While I lie under you,
And that which I would be
Desire will sing to you.'
IV
I wander-I wander-0 will she wander here
Where'er my footsteps carry me I know that she is near,
A jewelled lamp within her hand and jewels in her hair ;
I lost her in a vision once and seek her everywhere.
My spirit whispers she is near, I look at you and you :
Surely she has not passed me, I sleeping as she flew.
I wander-I wander, and yet she is not here,
Although my spirit whispers to me that she is near.
