Caricamento in corso...

Love Is Enough: Songs I-Ix

I1.
    Love is enough: though the World be a-waning
.
       And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,
.
       Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover
.
   The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,
.
   Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder,
.
       And this day draw a veil over all deeds passed over,
.
   Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter;
.
   The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
.
       These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.II2.
  Love is enough: have no thought for to-morrow
.
      If ye lie down this even in rest from your pain,
.
  Ye who have paid for your bliss with great sorrow:
.
      For as it was once so it shall be again.
.
      Ye shall cry out for death as ye stretch forth in vain2.
  Feeble hands to the hands that would help but they may not,
.
      Cry out to deaf ears that would hear if they could;
.
  Till again shall the change come, and words your lips say not
.
      Your hearts make all plain in the best wise they would
.
 
      And the world ye thought waning is glorious and good:2.
 
  And no morning now mocks you and no nightfall is weary,
.
 
      The plains are not empty of song and of deed:
.
 
  The sea strayeth not, nor the mountains are dreary;
.
 
      The wind is not helpless for any man’s need,
.
 
      Nor falleth the rain but for thistle and weed.2.
 
  O surely this morning all sorrow is hidden,
.
 
      All battle is hushed for this even at least;
.
 
  And no one this noontide may hunger, unbidden
.
 
      To the flowers and the singing and the joy of your feast
.
 
      Where silent ye sit midst the world’s tale increased.2.
 
  Lo, the lovers unloved that draw nigh for your blessing!
.
 
      For your tale makes the dreaming whereby yet they live
.
 
  The dreams of the day with their hopes of redressing,
.
 
      The dreams of the night with the kisses they give,
.
 
      The dreams of the dawn wherein death and hope strive.2.
 
  Ah, what shall we say then, but that earth threatened often
.
 
      Shall live on for ever that such things may be,
.
 
  That the dry seed shall quicken, the hard earth shall soften,
.
 
      And the spring-bearing birds flutter north o’er the sea,
.
 
      That earth’s garden may bloom round my love’s feet and me?III3.
  Love is enough: it grew up without heeding
.
      In the days when ye knew not its name nor its measure,
.
      And its leaflets untrodden by the light feet of pleasure
.
  Had no boast of the blossom, no sign of the seeding,
.
      As the morning and evening passed over its treasure.3.
  And what do ye say then?—That Spring long departed
.
      Has brought forth no child to the softness and showers;
.
     —That we slept and we dreamed through the Summer of flowers;
.
  We dreamed of the Winter, and waking dead-hearted
.
 
      Found Winter upon us and waste of dull hours.3.
 
  Nay, Spring was o’er-happy and knew not the reason,
.
 
      And Summer dreamed sadly, for she thought all was ended
.
 
      In her fulness of wealth that might not be amended;
.
 
  But this is the harvest and the garnering season,
.
 
      And the leaf and the blossom in the ripe fruit are blended.3.
 
  It sprang without sowing, it grew without heeding,
.
 
      Ye knew not its name and ye knew not its measure,
.
 
      Ye noted it not mid your hope and your pleasure;
.
 
  There was pain in its blossom, despair in its seeding,
.
 
      But daylong your bosom now nurseth its treasure.IV4.
   Love is enough: draw near and behold me
.
      Ye who pass by the way to your rest and your laughter,
.
      And are full of the hope of the dawn coming after;
.
  For the strong of the world have bought me and sold me
.
      And my house is all wasted from threshold to rafter.
.
        —Pass by me, and hearken, and think of me not!4.
  Cry out and come near; for my ears may not hearken,
.
      And my eyes are grown dim as the eyes of the dying.
.
      Is this the grey rack o’er the sun’s face a-flying?
.
 
  Or is it your faces his brightness that darken?
.
 
  Comes a wind from the sea, or is it your sighing?
.
 
        —Pass by me and hearken, and pity me not!4.
 
  Ye know not how void is your hope and your living:
.
 
      Depart with your helping lest yet ye undo me!
.
 
      Ye know not that at nightfall she draweth near to me,
.
 
  There is soft speech between us and words of forgiving
.
 
      Till in dead of the midnight her kisses thrill through me.
.
 
        —Pass by me and harken, and waken me not!4.
 
  Wherewith will ye buy it, ye rich who behold me?
.
 
      Draw out from your coffers your rest and your laughter,
.
 
      And the fair gilded hope of the dawn coming after!
.
 
        Nay this I sell not,—though ye bought me and sold me,—
.
 
  For your house stored with such things from threshold to rafter.
.
 
        —Pass by me, I hearken, and think of you not!V5.
  Love is enough: through the trouble and tangle
.
         From yesterday’s dawning to yesterday’s night
.
  I sought through the vales where the prisoned winds wrangle,
.
      Till, wearied and bleeding, at end of the light
.
      I met him, and we wrestled, and great was my might.5.
  O great was my joy, though no rest was around me,
.
      Though mid wastes of the world were we twain all alone,
.
  For methought that I conquered and he knelt and he crowned me,
.
      And the driving rain ceased, and the wind ceased to moan,
.
 
      And through clefts of the clouds her planet outshone.5.
 
  O through clefts of the clouds 'gan the world to awaken,
.
 
      And the bitter wind piped, and down drifted the rain,
.
 
  And I was alone—and yet not forsaken,
.
 
      For the grass was untrodden except by my pain:
.
 
      With a Shadow of the Night had I wrestled in vain.5.
 
  And the Shadow of the Night and not Love was departed;
.
 
    I was sore, I was weary, yet Love lived to seek;
.
 
 So I scaled the dark mountains, and wandered sad-hearted
.
 
    Over wearier wastes, where e’en sunlight was bleak,
.
 
    With no rest of the night for my soul waxen weak.5.
 
 With no rest of the night; for I waked mid a story
.
 
    Of a land wherein Love is the light and the lord,
.
 
 Where my tale shall be heard, and my wounds gain a glory,
.
 
    And my tears be a treasure to add to the hoard
.
 
    Of pleasure laid up for his people’s reward.5.
 
 Ah, pleasure laid up! Haste then onward and listen,
.
 
    For the wind of the waste has no music like this,
.
 
 And not thus do the rocks of the wilderness glisten:
.
 
    With the host of his faithful through sorrow and bliss
.
 
    My Lord goeth forth now, and knows me for his.VI6.
 Love is enough: cherish life that abideth,
.
    Lest ye die ere ye know him, and curse and misname him;
.
 For who knows in what ruin of all hope he hideth,
.
    On what wings of the terror of darkness he rideth?
.
    And what is the joy of man’s life that ye blame him
.
       For his bliss grown a sword, and his rest grown a fire?6.
 Ye who tremble for death, or the death of desire,
.
    Pass about the cold winter-tide garden and ponder
.
 On the rose in his glory amidst of June’s fire,
.
 
    On the languor of noontide that gathered the thunder,
.
 
    On the morn and its freshness, the eve and its wonder:
.
 
       Ye may make it no more—shall Spring come to awaken?6.
 
 Live on, for Love liveth, and earth shall be shaken
.
 
    By the wind of his wings on the triumphing morning,
.
 
 When the dead, and their deeds that die not shall awaken,
.
 
    And the world’s tale shall sound in your trumpet of warning,
.
 
    And the sun smite the banner called Scorn of the Scorning,
.
 
       And dead pain ye shall trample, dead fruitless desire,
.
 
       As ye wend to pluck out the new world from the fire.VII7.
    Dawn talks to Day
.
       Over dew-gleaming flowers,
.
    Night flies away
.
       Till the resting of hours:
.
    Fresh are thy feet
.
       And with dreams thine eyes glistening,
.
    Thy still lips are sweet
.
       Though the world is a-listening.
.
 O Love, set a word in my mouth for our meeting,
.
 
 Cast thine arms round about me to stay my heart’s beating!
.
 
    O fresh day, O fair day, O long day made ours!...7.
 
    Morn shall meet noon
.
 
       While the flower-stems yet move,
.
 
    Though the wind dieth soon
.
 
       And the clouds fade above.
.
 
    Loved lips are thine
.
 
       As I tremble and hearken;
.
 
    Bright thine eyes shine,
.
 
       Though the leaves thy brow darken.
.
 
 O Love, kiss me into silence, lest no word avail me,
.
 
 Stay my head with thy bosom lest breath and life fail me!
.
 
       O sweet day, O rich day, made long for our love!7.
 
    Late day shall greet eve,
.
 
       And the full blossoms shake,
.
 
    For the wind will not leave
.
 
       The tall trees while they wake.
.
 
    Eyes soft with bliss,
.
 
       Come nigher and nigher!
.
 
    Sweet mouth I kiss,
.
 
       Tell me all thy desire!
.
 
 Let us speak, love, together some words of our story,
.
 
 That our lips as they part may remember the glory!
.
 
       O soft day, O calm day, made clear for our sake!7.
 
    Eve shall kiss night,
.
 
       And the leaves stir like rain
.
 
    As the wind stealeth light
.
 
       O’er the grass of the plain.
.
 
    Unseen are thine eyes
.
 
       Mid the dreamy night’s sleeping,
.
 
    And on my mouth there lies
.
 
       The dear rain of thy weeping.
.
 
 Hold silence, love, speak not of the sweet day departed,
.
 
 Cling close to me, love, lest I waken sad-hearted!
.
 
       O kind day, O dear day, short day, come again!VIII8.
 Love is enough: while ye deemed him a-sleeping,
.
    There were signs of his coming and sounds of his feet;
.
 His touch it was that would bring you to weeping,
.
    When the summer was deepest and music most sweet:
.
       In his footsteps ye followed the day to its dying,
.
    Ye went forth by his gown-skirts the morning to meet:
.
       In his place on the beaten-down orchard-grass lying,
.
       Of the sweet ways ye pondered left for life’s trying.8.
 Ah, what was all dreaming of pleasure anear you,
.
 
    To the time when his eyes on your wistful eyes turned,
.
 
 And ye saw his lips move, and his head bent to hear you,
.
 
    As new-born and glad to his kindness ye yearned?
.
 
       Ah, what was all dreaming of anguish and sorrow,
.
 
    To the time when the world in his torment was burned,
.
 
       And no god your heart from its prison might borrow,
.
 
       And no rest was left, no today, no tomorrow?8.
 
 All wonder of pleasure, all doubt of desire,
.
 
    All blindness, are ended, and no more ye feel
.
 
 If your feet treat his flowers or the flames of his fire,
.
 
    If your breast meet his balms or the edge of his steel.
.
 
       Change is come, and past over, no more strife, no more learning:
.
 
    Now your lips and your forehead are sealed with his seal,
.
 
       Look backward and smile at the thorns and the burning.
.
 
      —Sweet rest, O my soul, and no fear of returning!IX9.
 Love is enough: ho ye who seek saving,
.
    Go no further; come hither; there have been who have found it,
.
 And these know the House of Fulfilment of Craving;
.
    These know the Cup with the roses around it;
.
    These know the World’s Wound and the balm that hath bound it:
.
 Cry out, the World heedeth not, ‘Love, lead us home!’9.
 He leadeth, He hearkeneth, He cometh to you-ward;
.
    Set your faces as steel to the fears that assemble
.
 Round his goad for the faint, and his scourge for the froward,
.
 
    Lo his lips, how with tales of last kisses they tremble!
.
 
    Lo his eyes of all sorrow that may not dissemble!
.
 
 Cry out, for he heedeth, ‘O Love, lead us home!’9.
 
 O hearken the words of his voice of compassion:
.
 
    'Come cling round about me, ye faithful who sicken
.
 
 Of the weary unrest and the world’s passing fashions!
.
 
    As the rain in mid-morning your troubles shall thicken,
.
 
    But surely within you some Godhead doth quicken,
.
 
 As ye cry to me heeding, and leading you home.9.
 
 'Come—pain ye shall have, and be blind to the ending!
.
 
    Come—fear ye shall have, mid the sky’s overcasting!
.
 
 Come—change ye shall have, for far are ye wending!
.
 
    Come—no crown ye shall have for your thirst and your fasting,
.
 
    But the kissed lips of Love and fair life everlasting!
.
 
 Cry out, for one heedeth, who leadeth you home!'9.
 
 Is he gone? was he with us?—ho ye who seek saving,
.
 
    Go no further; come hither; for have we not found it?
.
 
 Here is the House of Fulfilment of Craving;
.
 
    Here is the Cup with the roses around it;
.
 
    The World’s Wound well healed, and the balm that hath bound it:
.
 
 Cry out! for he heedeth, fair Love that led home.
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