UNWREATHE thy brow! Thy cheek outvies The golden grape in lustres rare; The rosebud of thy mouth denies The living rosebud hanging there; Nor teach the radiance of thy eyes To counterfeit the starry air; From all things else the beauty dies When thou art near, though they are fair; Star, rose and grape but mirrors warm Of loves that from thy beauty swarm, Thy brief, incarnate shades; in thee The world returns to unity. Unwreathe thyself, and singly shine Wine of the world, the rose-divine Body of love, desire star-sown That sparkles in the midnight zone, -- All beauty cast in passion's mould In thee corporeally bright, -- O Dionysian bloom, unfold! Crown, crown the revel's height, Sweet reveller! Thy golden cheek, Thy rosebud mouth, thy radiant eyes, A darling of the gods bespeak, Who take thee to the skies; With hands divinely holding up, As 'twere youth's flower, the vine-clad cup, Drink deep, O heavy-breathing boy, Crush on thy lips long draughts of joy! Then bear with thee to heaven along The wisdom of the vineyard song; Chime and charm thou mayst not bear, For the shadows' source reigns there; And when thou puttest thy beauty by, And shall at last unwreathe thee quite, Like stars that on the distant sky Suddenly beam, and cease from light; -- For who may know what shall befall After the whole earth's funeral? And who may know what there shall be Without the senses' imagery? -- Ah, when the grape and rose shall shed Their bloom, and garden-mould shall be, Reveal, all beauty being dead, Love's imageless eternity! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FUN HOUSE FABLE by KAREN SWENSON EFFIGY OF A NUN (SIXTEENTH CENTURY) by SARA TEASDALE PATIENCE by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE TO MR. BARBAULD, WITH A MAP OF THE LAND OF MATRIMONY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD DEAD LETTERS (T.L.H.) by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN PIETRO OF ABANO by ROBERT BROWNING IMMORTAL by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR |