I moved from the sun-warmed garden-seat, Where the damask-rose petals covered the ground, And all the people with quiet feet Followed the mass-bell's holy sound. I left the terrace; I wandered away, Past larkspur and lilies and monk's-hood tall, To where the lake in its reed-bed lay, On the sunset-side of the castle wall. With a thousand years in its human sigh The vesper murmur came to me Of the people's patient piety; Then my heart stopped. What did I see? I saw her -- I saw what the moonlit spell Summoned by my dark heathen book Night by night had brought! Too well I saw her. Too well I knew her look. O lost one -- lost one -- from days long dead, When love gave all and died when it gave! O head thrown back! O arms outspread! O passion stronger than the grave! When the people returned on quiet feet From following the mass-bell's holy sound, They found me still on that sun-warmed seat, With the damask-rose petals strewn on the ground. But they did not know that their voices took A tone like the wind in a sepulchre; They did not know that a heathen book Had made me a monk for evermore! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOMAGE TO SEXTUS PROPERTIUS: 3 by EZRA POUND THE STIRRUP-CUP by LOUIS UNTERMEYER TRANSFORMATIONS by THOMAS HARDY SEASONS (1) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI TO E. L., ON HIS TRAVELS IN GREECE by ALFRED TENNYSON |