WHITENESS
WHITE roses set in ivory urns,
White violets wreathed in silver cups;
White marble founts whose moss and ferns,
The shadow of the moon drink up.
Since I have known you and your ways,
Things such as these are my delights.
A whiteness glimmers on my days,
A whiteness hovers o'er my nights.
White dews, white crescent moons, white dawns,
White flickering feet, white-gleaming hands,
White limbs that dream on twilight lawns,
White limbs that dance on shimmering sands.
O child, O maiden-acolyte,
Whose censer breathes such silvery breath,
Pour wine white as the flesh of Christ
Upon the altar of white death!
Then all red things shall fade away —
Red flame, red roses, and red blood,
And we shall voyage night and day
The white sea of the tears of God.
