THE trio perfect: the man, the woman, and the babe, And herein all Creation. The two, with wonder in their eyes, from opposite worlds Of sex, of ancestry, pursuits, traditions, Each other suddenly, amazed, confronting— A nameless glory each in each surmising. A frenzy as of Gods— Imperial rage, flinging the goods of the world aside as dross, to reach to a priceless treasure: [He madly invasive, She deeply wise, and drawing farther back Even to the gates of Paradise as he approacnes:] Strange ecstasy of warfare! Seisin and ravishment of souls and bodies. Veils rent asunder, Heaven opening measureless, overhead, in splendor, And all life changed, transfigured! And then a calm. Weeks of humdrum and mortal commonplace, And months perchance in monotone of toil, But still behind it all some deep remembrance, Some sure reliance, And sweet and secret knowledge in each other. And then the Babe: A tiny perfect sea-shell on the shore By the waves gently laid (the awful waves!)— By trembling hands received—a folded message— A babe yet slumbering, with a ripple on its face Remindful of the ocean. And two twined forms that overbend it, smiling, And wonder to what land Love must have journeyed, Who brought this back—this word of sweetest meaning @3Two lives made one, and visible as one@1. And herein all Creation. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DOMESDAY BOOK: GEORGE JOSLIN ON LA MENKEN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER by JOHN CROWE RANSOM OLNEY HYMNS: 49. JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING by WILLIAM COWPER THE JEW TO JESUS by FLORENCE KIPER FRANK EPITAPH ON THOMAS CLERE, SURREY'S FAITHFUL FRIEND AND FOLLOWER by HENRY HOWARD |