When first we met and meeting thrilled with love,
Not reasoning, not doubting its true worth,
It seemed at last that life again was good
As in the beginning, when God understood
And made for man a Paradise on earth.
You did not fear or question right or wrong,
You did not weigh the greatness of your giving,
But came to me as innocent, as wise,
As Psyche when she looked in Eros' eyes
And knew that life was love and love was living.
I, too, a god became from love of you,
Plucking the stars to fashion thee a chain,
Plaiting the winds to wreathe about thy head,
Netting the sunset clouds above thy bed,
And soothing thee to slumber with soft rain.
Strong beyond mortal might I dared to loose
The uttermost deep forces long denied;
Time, form and space were dust within my hand,
Future and Past were in a moment spanned
By Now that lapped us in an endless tide.
Ah, I must revel in this miracle
That shattered darkness in one burst of light,
Threw open all the doors of heaven wide
And passed the patient plodding of the mind
To soar unfettered in ecstatic flight.
Then thought returned, and presently I knew
That love, like life itself, must have rebirth.
Fearful I watched the Goddess of the Sun
Drop off her shining garments one by one
And stand revealed, pale daughter of the earth.
Why should I fear the knowledge of the truth?
Why should I think that human love should be
Less than the love of gods whose wanton ways
Heed not the terrible swift passing of the days,
Or earth's low sobbing through their revelry?
Slim as a forest nymph I see you stand;
Startled and still, half woman and half child;
Deep are your eyes and dark your tumbled hair,
And never was face so whimsically fair,
Never was heart so innocently wild:
Wild with the April winds and autumn rains;
Still as a woodland pool that stirs with dreams
Of singing birds and shadow leaves and bars
Of golden sun and silver sheen of stars,
Yet ever sweet with restless moving streams.
Beauty can not be captured with a word;
Color and curve have not the art to trace
The one beloved in all her loveliness —
The enigmatic eyes, the soft caress,
The strange elusive magic of her face.
Only we know the sadness and the sorrow
Of taking and yet never quite possessing,
Of seeing heaven so near and still evading
The impetuous mad violence of our raiding —
The brazen doors thrice-barred against our pressing.
It's you I love — and yet it is not you!
It's you I hold, but through your eager eyes
I search the depths beyond the lurking soul
For some unknown unfathomable goal,
Where Love bestows what human love denies.
I kiss your lips, and trembling I feel
The kiss of Woman down the haunted years;
Your little eager breath blows sweet and warm
From out the heart of Love's impassioned storm;
Your tears are salt with seas of fallen tears.
I crush you close — and bruise the breasts of Beauty;
My pulses leap, aflame with quenchless fire.
It's you I hold, but in the ageless strife
Seed springs to life within the womb of Life,
And Man draws near to God in his desire.
Like blown spray along the curling crest
You gleam an instant, dancing in the sun;
Beneath your feet the ocean of your being
Drops to its depths, beyond our mortal seeing,
And yet blown spray and sounding seas are one.
So in your patience do I read the sign
Of that devotion, down the years the same,
Since first you turned your back upon the Lord
And left the Garden of the Flaming Sword
To follow Man, exultant in your shame;
To lie with him and bear his mighty sons;
To share his thirst, his wounds, his bitter fear;
Even to shield his body from the blind
Swift stroke of death itself, nor ever find
The sacrifice too great, the cost too dear.
Rachel and Sarah, Helen and Heloise,
And all the nameless host of humble state;
I see their courage mirrored in your face,
Making of this, your room, a holy place,
Where Woman stands, transcendant over Fate.
Thus do I love you; thus do I love you more
Than all the wondrous things beneath the sun;
Seeing within your love the still reflection
Of Beauty, Life and Peace in their perfection,
And having you having all heaven won!
Not reasoning, not doubting its true worth,
It seemed at last that life again was good
As in the beginning, when God understood
And made for man a Paradise on earth.
You did not fear or question right or wrong,
You did not weigh the greatness of your giving,
But came to me as innocent, as wise,
As Psyche when she looked in Eros' eyes
And knew that life was love and love was living.
I, too, a god became from love of you,
Plucking the stars to fashion thee a chain,
Plaiting the winds to wreathe about thy head,
Netting the sunset clouds above thy bed,
And soothing thee to slumber with soft rain.
Strong beyond mortal might I dared to loose
The uttermost deep forces long denied;
Time, form and space were dust within my hand,
Future and Past were in a moment spanned
By Now that lapped us in an endless tide.
Ah, I must revel in this miracle
That shattered darkness in one burst of light,
Threw open all the doors of heaven wide
And passed the patient plodding of the mind
To soar unfettered in ecstatic flight.
Then thought returned, and presently I knew
That love, like life itself, must have rebirth.
Fearful I watched the Goddess of the Sun
Drop off her shining garments one by one
And stand revealed, pale daughter of the earth.
Why should I fear the knowledge of the truth?
Why should I think that human love should be
Less than the love of gods whose wanton ways
Heed not the terrible swift passing of the days,
Or earth's low sobbing through their revelry?
Slim as a forest nymph I see you stand;
Startled and still, half woman and half child;
Deep are your eyes and dark your tumbled hair,
And never was face so whimsically fair,
Never was heart so innocently wild:
Wild with the April winds and autumn rains;
Still as a woodland pool that stirs with dreams
Of singing birds and shadow leaves and bars
Of golden sun and silver sheen of stars,
Yet ever sweet with restless moving streams.
Beauty can not be captured with a word;
Color and curve have not the art to trace
The one beloved in all her loveliness —
The enigmatic eyes, the soft caress,
The strange elusive magic of her face.
Only we know the sadness and the sorrow
Of taking and yet never quite possessing,
Of seeing heaven so near and still evading
The impetuous mad violence of our raiding —
The brazen doors thrice-barred against our pressing.
It's you I love — and yet it is not you!
It's you I hold, but through your eager eyes
I search the depths beyond the lurking soul
For some unknown unfathomable goal,
Where Love bestows what human love denies.
I kiss your lips, and trembling I feel
The kiss of Woman down the haunted years;
Your little eager breath blows sweet and warm
From out the heart of Love's impassioned storm;
Your tears are salt with seas of fallen tears.
I crush you close — and bruise the breasts of Beauty;
My pulses leap, aflame with quenchless fire.
It's you I hold, but in the ageless strife
Seed springs to life within the womb of Life,
And Man draws near to God in his desire.
Like blown spray along the curling crest
You gleam an instant, dancing in the sun;
Beneath your feet the ocean of your being
Drops to its depths, beyond our mortal seeing,
And yet blown spray and sounding seas are one.
So in your patience do I read the sign
Of that devotion, down the years the same,
Since first you turned your back upon the Lord
And left the Garden of the Flaming Sword
To follow Man, exultant in your shame;
To lie with him and bear his mighty sons;
To share his thirst, his wounds, his bitter fear;
Even to shield his body from the blind
Swift stroke of death itself, nor ever find
The sacrifice too great, the cost too dear.
Rachel and Sarah, Helen and Heloise,
And all the nameless host of humble state;
I see their courage mirrored in your face,
Making of this, your room, a holy place,
Where Woman stands, transcendant over Fate.
Thus do I love you; thus do I love you more
Than all the wondrous things beneath the sun;
Seeing within your love the still reflection
Of Beauty, Life and Peace in their perfection,
And having you having all heaven won!