Hell
and Heaven
|
In the silence of the night-time, In
the grey and formless eve When the thought is plagued with loveless Memories
that it cannot leave, When the dawn makes sudden beauty Of
a peevish clouded sky, And the rain is sobbing slowly And
the wind makes weird reply, Always comes her face before me And
her voice is in my ear, Beautiful and sad and cruel With
the azure eyes austere. Cloudy figure once so luminous With
the light and life within When the soul came rippling outwards
And the red lips laughed at sin, Com’st thou with that marble visage From
what world instinct with pain Where we pay the price of passion By
a law our hearts disdain? Cast it from thee, O thou goddess! Earning
with a smile release From these sad imaginations, Rise
into celestial peace. Travel from the loveless places That
our mortal fears create, Where thy natural heavens claim thee And
the gods, thy brothers, wait. Then descend to me grown radiant, Lighting
up terrestrial ground With the feet that brighten heaven When
the mighty dance goes round Page-93 And the high Gods beating measure Tread
the maze that keeps the stars Circling in their luminous orbits Through
the eternal thoroughfares. All below is but confusion Of
desires that strive and cry, Some forbidden, some achieving Anguish
after ecstasy. But above our radiant station Is
from which by doubt we fell, Reaching only after Heaven And
achieving only Hell. Let the heart be king and master, Let
the brain exult and toil, Disbelieve in good and evil, God
with Nature reconcile. Therefore, O rebellious sweetness, Thou tookst
arms for joy and love. There achieve them! Take possession Of
our radiant seats above. Page-94 |