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FORTUNATE LOVE: 20. EPITHALAMIUM by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE

First Line: HIGH IN THE ORGAN-LOFT, WITH LILIED HAIR
Last Line: LOVE CLOSED OUR LIVES' TRIUMPHANT OVERTURE.

HIGH in the organ-loft, with lilied hair,
Love plied the pedals with a snowy foot,
Pouring forth music like the scent of fruit,
And stirring all the incense-laden air;
We knelt before the altar's gold rail, where
The priest stood robed, with chalice and palm-shoot,
With music-men, who bore citole and lute,
Behind us, and the attendant virgins fair;
And so our red aurora flashed to gold,
Our dawn to sudden sun, and all the while
The high-voiced children trebled clear and cold,
The censer-boys went singing down the aisle,
And far above, with fingers strong and sure,
Love closed our lives' triumphant overture.



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