Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE'S DAY, by NEWMAN HOWARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE'S DAY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tide of dawn silently
Last Line: Sing bride! Sing blossom! Sing bird!
Subject(s): Beauty; Hair; Life; Love; Passion


TIDE of dawn silently
Welled from the orient,
Fount of humanity,
Lord of the firmament,
Shine, Holy Light, on my love!

Glide with gold sandalled feet
Into her sleeping bower,
Dapple the snowy sheet,
Cherish the folded Flower,
Beam on the breast of my love!

Weave o'er the whiteness there
Links for an amulet,
Gleam in the glossy hair
Strewn on the coverlet;
Then, when the nest of the dove

Warms for the bird to wake,
Fashion her visions bright,
Fall like a blossom flake,
Soft on her lids alight, --
Open her eyes to my love!

Watch while she robes in soft
Raiment her tender limbs,
Beckon the larks aloft
Choiring her matin hymns;
Last, amid meadow and grove

Weave her gay diadems,
Flowers for our festivals,
Zones of the forest gems,
Garlands and coronals,
Posies for plumes of my dove;

Buds to lie pillowed on
Bosom where fancies blow --
Lilies of Lebanon
Nourished with virgin snow:
Weave, Light and Dew, for my love!

Till, -- as an April shower
Shot through with golden fire
Ripples the alder bower,
Rouses the winged choir,
Flutters the throstles, -- my love

Robed in her loveliness
Comes to me blossoming,
Fans me with waywardness,
Wings me, all wondering,
Skyward. For she whom I love

Yields to the golden hour
Foison it soweth not,
Scent for the scentless flower,
Balm the breeze bloweth not,
Marvels Earth dreameth not of.

Songs in the air will spring,
Mute though her lips may be, --
Earth is the viol-string,
She is the melody:
Rise, my Aurora, my Dove!

Shine, O my Morning Dream,
Rosy with cheeks abloom!
Flash like a golden gleam,
Lighting the forest gloom!
Haste, O my swallow, my love!

Laugh, O my meadow rill,
Blush, O my damask rose,
Droop not, my daffodil,
Come where the Iris blows:
There will we linger and rove,

There, by the river edge:
I know an arbour there,
Latticed with silver sedge
Woven with eglatere:
Comes not a keel to that cove;

Rarely the strand is wet,
Rarely a sound perturbs
Love in that arboret;
Only the willow herbs, --
Red as the lips of my love, --

Whisper, and waters lap,
Rushes sing lullaby,
Wings of a heron flap,
Hovers a dragon-fly,
Far off the reaper is heard;

Swans with the zephyr sail,
Rhythmic the river heaves,
Idly the water-rail
Threads through the lotus-leaves:
Come, O my Blossom! my Bird!

Moist is the willow mead;
Loop up your kirtle folds,
Lined like the silver weed,
Sweeping the marigolds:
Haste, whitest doe of the herd!

Fawn with the dainty feet
Trip through the meadow dew!
Whisper you love me, Sweet!
Bind me with chains to you, --
Caught in the toils of a word!

Crowfoot her kirtle brushed,
Squires of her garment hem,
Daisies her feet have crushed --
Look! I will treasure them!
Fear not! a missel thrush stirred, --

None else. Ah, lean on me!
Only forget-me-not
Watches us: wistfully
Beams on our trysting spot --
Blue eyes no tear ever blurred.

Me, too, good angels throng
Now you are near me, love;
Ah, but the hours were long,
Ah, night was weary, love!
Weary from kisses deferred!

Kiss me a thousand times!
Cleave, mouth, as honey bees
Cling to the scented limes
Rocked in the summer breeze, --
Loudly their winglets are whirred!

Me, too, my passion-wings
Fold, and uplift again;
Flushed with wild hoverings,
Breast to my breast I strain, --
Clasp thee, my Blossom! my Bird!

Speechless! ah, how, beloved,
How, when I yearn to thee,
Speak? Breath is weak beloved,
Passion's eternity
May not be cramped in a word!

Heart-throbs will whisper it,
Summers and winters tell,
Noon and night lisp of it,
Love! how I love thee well!
Till of two spirits a third,

Godlike, yea, very God,
Love, the Immortal One,
Springs; and our mortal clod
Melts in the unison:
Till betwixt two wings one bird

Lives and breathes, travelling,
Love-borne, from world to world,
Lapt in eternal Spring, --
Sinks, and the wings are furled,
Folded as now! For I heard --

Yea, -- as a shepherd hears
Songs in the mountain breeze, --
Hearkened, and all the spheres
Sang, and the forest trees
Murmured, and all the air stirred;

Whereupon, marvelling,
This knowledge came to me:
Life is the viol-string,
Love is the melody:
Sing Bride! Sing Blossom! Sing Bird!





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