Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RENUNCIATION, by RACHEL ANNAND TAYLOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RENUNCIATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On the lifted rood thy days have hewn
Last Line: For this, o love, for this!
Subject(s): Divorce; Flowers; Love - Complaints; Marriage; Roses; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


ON the lifted Rood thy Days have hewn,
Sweet Soul, be crucified.
Yield the soft palm to the piercing nails
And bare the beating side.

Now change thee the love-stars in thine eyes,
And thy roses twined in vain,
For the upward stare of agony,
And the aubéspine of pain.

O feet that sought the forest-paths
Cross over patiently:
O lips that the red red wines have stained
Be moistened bitterly.

The moon and the stars the torches were
To thy strange sweet mysteries;
And God was the Lord of thy wedding-feast,—
For this, O Love, for this!





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