NO dim and dreamy ghost I sing, Nor phantom floating in the air; To one who treads the solid earth, I send alike my song and prayer. To perfect matter strong and sweet, The face and form of her I love; The matchless speech and subtitle breath, And eyelid trembling like a dove,— A dove within an earthly nest, Who hears the coming of her mate Or feels his kiss upon her breast, And chides him that he comes so late. The matchless joy of sense I sing!— The earthly joy of her and now: Before no fading ghost I kneel— Before no distant future bow. Go, little song, and seek the lips Of her who waits thee with a kiss; And tell her, only in her arms The poet-master dreams of bliss. No angel seen by prophet eye, Nor shaped by art with peerless grace, With feet that tread the azure sky, And roam the boundless field of space, Is half so true or sweetly fair As one who walks with me apart: I lose me in her shining hair,— She is the goddess of my heart. O Death, so like a stormy cloud Within a gentle summer sky, Thou lonely phantom sad to see, I will not fear thee though I die! Go, little song, to her I love, And tell her Death is in the air; It is his shadow on the world That makes the present moment fair. We have one hour of life and love, And ages filled with silent sleep— There is no time for Faith to pray, Nor time for sullen Grief to weep. Go, tell her if we love not now, The life we live is only death And dust that have no joy in time, And only feed on bitter breath. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE FALL by HAYDEN CARRUTH HAIL TEESSIDE! by CECIL DAY LEWIS INDEPENDENCE DAY, 1956, A FAIRY TALE by JAMES GALVIN READING WHITMAN IN A TOILET STALL by TIMOTHY LIU CAMOMILE TEA by KATHERINE MANSFIELD |