THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. The blessed damozel leaned out She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven. Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem, Herseemed she scarce had been a day (To one, it is ten years of years, Nothing the autumn fall of leaves. : The whole year sets apace.) It was the rampart of God's house So high, that looking downward thence It lies in Heaven, across the flood Beneath, the tides of day and night Heard hardly, some of her new friends Spake evermore among themselves And still she bowed herself and stooped 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 Time like a pulse shake fierce Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove Its path; and now she spoke as when The sun was gone now; the curled moon Fluttering far down the gulf; and now (Ah sweet! Even now, in that bird's song, Strove not her accents there, Fain to be hearkened? When those bells 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, Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd? Are not two prayers a perfect strength? 'When round his head the aureole clings, And he is clothed in white, I'll take his hand and go with him We will step down as to a stream, 'We two will stand beside the shrine, Whose lamps are stirred continually And see our old prayers, granted, melt '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 'And I myself will teach to him, I myself, lying so, The songs I sing here; which his voice (Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st! That once of old. But shall God lift To endless unity The soul whose likeness with thy soul 'We two,' she said, 'will seek the groves Where the lady Mary is, With her five handmaidens, whose names 'Circlewise sit they, with bound locks And foreheads garlanded; Into the fine cloth white like flame To fashion the birth-robes for them 'He shall fear, haply, and be dumb: 'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand, And angels meeting us shall sing 'There will I ask of Christ the Lord As then awhile, for ever now She gazed and listened and then said, '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 And then she cast her arms along And laid her face between her hands LOVE ENTHRONED. I marked all kindred Powers the heart finds fair :— And Youth, with still some single golden hair Love's throne was not with these; but far above And Youth be dear, and Life be sweet to love. LOVE'S NOCTURN. 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. Yield thy jealous courts unseen? |