Out of the hush and darkness of deep sleep Your face came toward me: first a nebulous gleam Like some dim star beheld with eyes that weep; Then wavering nearer in a misty flame, As the moon falters up through some dark stream When the wind moves at midnight. With you came A breath of music, faint and far away, And light and music somehow seemed the same: The one, all hope that longing turns to fear; The other, all men dream and dare not say. Slowly the brightness broadened, and drew near, And orbed into the wonder of your face; While the sound swelled and echoed trembling-clear -- The minor dominant of a wild desire Beating the sullen bars of time and space; And with your coming, ever the sound rose higher, Quivering with extremity of sweet, And I could see your eyes; and the dim fire That framed your face became your golden hair Falling in streams of Summer to your feet; And the wild melody shook earth and air, You ever drawing closer, till at last Music and brightness grew too great to bear -- Then suddenly the yearning cadence caught The chord it longed for, and I held you fast. Then the dream changed. Heavy with heat and fraught With sighs of slumbering roses, hung the gloom Over us. Little breezes passed, and caught Sweetness from bower and flower, and wandered on Through murmuring groves and beds of hidden bloom. Hard by, a marble palace rose, that shone With pearly balconies and columns tall Sprayed into arch like fountains turned to stone; And from a lower window deep-embayed Two bars of yellow light shot forth, to fall On your white dress and shining head, and made A saint of you, and passed unwillingly, Paling to amber where they half displayed Mysterious gardens darkling down to meet The starlit laughter of the distant sea. Down with the light swept the swift-pulsing beat Of eager music, and the yellow bars Were shaken and shaded as the flying feet Of dancers crossed the light. All throbbed in time -- The music, and our hearts, and the hot stars. Woes of dead lovers in an ancient rhyme, Deeds of dead heroes when the world was young, Strife of great souls that vainly strove to climb Steeps of sheer joy where only angels tread -- Ached in that music, finding heart and tongue. And the old childhood feelings I thought dead Came back upon me, seeming strange and new: Love of I knew not what, and causeless dread, And vague desire; all old things passed away Returned fulfilled, and all found form in you. Under a huge dim-towering tree I lay, You bending over me. I knew my sight Had never fallen on your face by day -- Yet had I known you well, and sought you long, Loved in forgotten dreams for many a night; And you were soft and dear, like an old song, And strange as moonlit clouds. Love strung to pain Tightened your cheek, and made your breath grow long And your lips brighten. Tears were in your eyes, And in your hair, the scent of Summer rain. And as I held you close, we seemed to rise And float away over the waves of sound; And all things but ourselves were fantasies: Death an old lie; and Life an empty quest; And Time a blind mole burrowing underground. Then our eyes drew you down. Your warm lips pressed On mine with eager kisses: all the dark Was full of you: through your quick-panting breast I felt your heart slow beating against my own Like the heat-pulses in a dying spark -- Then the dream faded. Like a petal blown From some tall flower, you floated down -- your whole Love in your eyes, and your white arms up-thrown -- Blurred to a hazy glimmer far withdrawn, So faint I only seemed to see your soul, Faded, and flashed, and vanished.... And the dawn Burst in upon me, and I woke. Yet still Truth seemed a shadow of the dream foregone; And all brave hopes, your glamour cast before; And all good thoughts, the echo of your will. And still you help me. Shall we meet once more, Out of the hush and darkness of deep sleep, In the day-world's tempestuous toil and war? And if I find you ... will you ever be As the warm firelight of my home to me, Or some dim star beheld with eyes that weep? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FINIS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON IN A SWEDISH GRAVEYARD by EMMA LAZARUS ILLINOIS FARMER by CARL SANDBURG THE TRANSIENCE OF HANDS by KAREN SWENSON SWALLOW FLIGHT by SARA TEASDALE |