20 (To one, it is ten years of years. 25 It was the rampart of God's house That she was standing on; 30 By God built over the sheer depth So high, that looking downward thence It lies in Heaven, across the flood Beneath, the tides of day and night 35 The void, as low as where this earth 40 Around her, lovers, newly met And still she bowed herself and stooped 45 Until her bosom must have made 50 From the fixed place of Heaven she saw Through all the world. Her gaze still strove Within the gulf to pierce Its path; and now she spoke as when 55 The sun was gone now; the curled moon Was like a little feather 60 Fluttering far down the gulf; and now (Ah sweet! Even now, in that bird's song, Strove not her accents there, Fain to be harkened? When those bells 65 Strove not her steps to reach my side 70 'I wish that he were come to me, 'Have I not prayed in Heaven?-on earth, Are not two prayers a perfect strength? 'When round his head the aureole clings, And he is clothed in white, 75 I'll take his hand and go with him To the deep wells of light; 80 As unto a stream we will step down, 'We two will stand beside that shrine, Whose lamps are stirred continually And see our old prayers, granted, melt 85 We two will lie i' the shadow of That living mystic tree 90 Within whose secret growth the Dove While every leaf that His plumes touch 'And I myself will teach to him, I myself, lying so, The songs I sing here; which his voice 95 And find some knowledge at each pause, Or some new thing to know.' 100 (Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st! That once of old. But shall God lift 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, 105 With her five handmaidens, whose names 110 Are five sweet symphonies, Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen, 'Circlewise sit they, with bound locks Into the fine cloth white like flame Weaving the golden thread, To fashion the birth-robes for them 115 He shall fear, haply, and be dumb: 'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand, 125 And angels meeting us shall sing 130 'There will I ask of Christ the Lord Only to live as once on earth She gazed and listened and then said, Less sad of speech than mild,— 135 All this is when he comes.' She ceased. 140 The light thrilled towards her, fill'd With angels in strong level flight. (I saw her smile.) But soon their path Was vague in distant spheres: And then she cast her arms along The golden barriers, And laid her face between her hands, And wept. 5 10 THE SEA-LIMITS (From the same) Consider the sea's listless chime: Is the sea's end: our sight may pass No quiet, which is death's,—it hath 15 Listen alone beside the sea, 20 Listen alone among the woods; Shall have one sound alike to thee: Hark where the murmurs of thronged men Still the one voice of wave and tree. Gather a shell from the strown beach And listen at its lips: they sigh |