Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NIGHT POEMS: 2 by CHARLES WILLIAMS

First Line: AGAIN IN A STILL PEACE, IN CLEAR
Last Line: ENDURED BY ALL, BREATHED BY HOW FEW!
Subject(s): DEATH; LOVE - LOSS OF; PEACE; POETRY & POETS; DEAD, THE;
@3Ille@1

AGAIN in a still peace, in clear
Contentment, our twined souls abide,
While all about us, far and near,
Entangled worlds of being slide.

@3Illa@1

If, dear my lord, on some dark day
Fate and the world our love destroy,
Shall we not think of this and say:
'What times were ours! and O what joy!'

@3Ille@1

How oft from these delicious springs
Of health that promise seems to fly
Before us, yet no darkness brings
Its trial and redemption nigh!

@3Illa@1

Clasp me more close! if time shall fret
Our cords of joy to breaking strands,
We may our plighted tongues forget
But not these kissed and clasping hands.

@3Ille@1

How marvellously did Love bless
My early prayers, but framed anew!
I begged from him forgetfulness;
He gave forgetfulness—in you.

@3Illa@1

Alas! what praise is this I hear?
Now am I worth no lovelier fame
From my best poet? then forbear,
I will not own so dull a name!

@3Ille@1

My fair Oblivion, be content!
Is it a small thing that your bright
And unperturbed arbitrament
Resolves my trouble out of sight?

@3Illa@1

Not such repose was promised me
In those blind moments when my blood,
Helpless as in the storm the sea,
First leapt to your near neighbourhood.

@3Ille@1

Stilled it not to a sunnier mirth
Thereafter? as in me, who feel
About the deadly wound of birth
Your hidden consolation steal.

@3Illa@1

Wounds though I suffer, let me move
Ever in jeopardy and strife,
Until, beneath the wrath of love
Broken, you nurse me back to life.

@3Ille@1

Since first one starry moment drew
Our too-long parted spirits nigh,
Time sinks at my arrest: in you
To all the world I seem to die.

@3Illa@1

But when on me arose that star
From its serene intensity
What ardour smote me! lo, the scar
Red on my heart possesses me.

@3Ille@1

Joy bring your utmost hope to pass!
But if that wild flight touch the sky,
Think that, in me reposed, it has
A double strength of speed thereby!

@3Illa@1

Nor are your wars, O true and dear,
Less glorious that they seem to be
Dim raids upon the far frontier
Of an entire tranquillity.

@3Ille@1

Thus you, asleep in me, shall vaunt
Your courage; I, asleep in you,
Shall satisfy that deeper want
Endured by all, breathed by how few!



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