Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HERE IS MUSIC: 16. CHANT ROYAL, by AUSTIN PHILIPS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HERE IS MUSIC: 16. CHANT ROYAL, by                    
First Line: Because I, spiritually starving, knew
Last Line: An-hunger'd and full fain for former happiness.
Subject(s): Aging; Happiness; Love - Marital; Youth; Joy; Delight; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


BECAUSE I, spiritually starving, knew
Instant refreshment, found complete respite
That day we met on Tracy Bridge, and drew
Delicious sustenance at Your sweet sight,
Because Your magic voice, victorious, made
Me eager victim, joyful, yet afraid
Lest I reveal the sudden empery
Which, without effort, you assumed o'er me:
Because, as some benignant sorceress,
You fed my soul with manna, regally. ...
I am an-hunger'd, fain for former happiness.

Because, from that glad hour, I found in You
Stimulus, Rest, Soulagement, Peace and Light,
Each day drank draughts of nectar, wore my rue
No more; escaped, full freedman, from long night:
Because my soul spontaneously essayed
New self-set tasks; exalted, undismayed,
From that miraculous moment came to be
Its own possessor, yet, to Eternity,
Your slave, Your serf, enchained in fathomless
Affection, and forever held in fee. ...
I am an-hunger'd, fain for former happiness.

Because, for ten amazing months, fire-new,
I found my forces daily touch fresh height,
Felt exaltations, impulses endue
Me with strange strengths, unceasingly incite
My heart to further effort, and persuade
Towards more achievement, urge me escalade
Forbidding fortress' walls, tempt Hope's strange Sea. ...
Because You set me spiritually free
From age and cramping habit, bade me press
Forward, approved, encouraged generously. ...
I am an-hunger'd, fain for former happiness.

Because, in finding You, I found the clue
To Life itself, learned to look on, a-right,
At Love in all His forms, took from these true
Strength, comprehension, tenderness and bright,
Swift understanding of things overlaid,
Long lost, crushed back by ceaseless cavalcade,
So sensed solution of much mystery. ...
Because, in talks with You, I came to see
End of Unrest, demise of Storm and Stress,
Birth of blest Calm from our sweet intimacy. ...
I am an-hunger'd, fain for former happiness.

Because our severance brings a cruel crew
Of Griefs; because, in dolorous affright,
I see ahead relentless retinue
Of Sorrows—fierce and formidable suite
Of Outside Forces, scornfully arrayed,
Against me: foes implacable, unstayed,
Unstayable, thrice deaf to plaint or plea,
Approach, arrive, divide us ruthlessly. ...
Because not e'er again shall I possess
My soul, Your presence ... Lo! Pain's legatee
I am, an-hunger'd, fain for former happiness.

Envoi

There is, henceforth, one firm, fixed weird to dree
For him You hold so deeply, steadfastly. ...
He makes his heart a temple, stands to bless
You at its altar, priest and devotee—
An-hunger'd and full fain for former happiness.





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