The Consolation of Dreams
Farewell, O Sapphire Eyes, serene and clear,
Tender and careless, not the stars above
Could take less heed of one who held them dear
Than you Beloved, who could not, would not, love.
Ah, Sapphire Eyes, who could not, would not, care
Or shed on me their soft indifferent beams,
The long white day may keep you far as fair,
Yet you come very near to me in dreams.
Dreams: when I force you with soft violence
To turn on me their tender azure shine,
And tune your voice to this sweet eloquence
"I am your lover, lend your lips to mine."
"Refuse me not." Ah, when would I refuse?
"Turn here your face." When would I turn away?
I, whose one wish is that you should infuse
Your life in mine in love's completest way.
I, who had held that life had given me all
Had it, oh, if it had but given me you!
Had Fate but ordered your soft light to fall
Across my solitudes, O eyes of blue.
In the Far East the old Religions say
Man rises nearest to the Gods above,
For a brief space becoming even as they,
In the last ecstasy of human love.
Might I not also rise and reach your soul
If once its passionate life had passed to me
In the surrender of your self control,
Th' unguarded moments of your ecstasy?
For though you hold that Love is brief and mortal,
What other way can I attain to you?
I know, O Azure Eyes, no other portal
To reach the mind beyond your mystic blue.
And yet—what use these dear, delusive dreams?
The night wears through, the stars grow pale above,
Farewell, O Sapphires, set in tears, there seems
No hope, no rest, you would not, could not, love.