Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BE NOT AFRAID, by HERBERT TRENCH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BE NOT AFRAID, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Be not afraid: it was some wise
Last Line: Nor what I have possessed!
Subject(s): Love


BE not afraid: it was some wise
Daemon amid that glade of Fate
Tore off the bandage from our eyes
And stamped us mate and mate.

I am all yours. I kneel, I burn,
Feel every naked rushing nerve
And tendril of my being yearn
For you; for you I starve!

I am all yours. What creature else
Exists but you? Passion divine
Pursued through half-a-thousand hells
I make, I keep you mine!

Endless you yield what else none gives,
That torturing, acutest bliss
That quenches self-hood while it lives
Enheavened in your kiss.

So as the eagle on his ledge
Huddles and broods above his prey
Eternal terrors in me rage
Lest some one take away;

Lest I be not the universe
For you (as you, my mate, for me)
Of every sense -- all that confers
This fearful ecstasy.

None other living shall feel thus
The blaze consummate light the breast,
For like Death I am covetous
Of this too perfect zest;
None shall share what possesses us
Nor what I have possessed!





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