Ideal Divination

How I have thought of her, Her I have never seen!-- Now from a raying air She, like the Magdalene, Flowers--a face serene, Radiant with raven hair.

Now in a balsam scent Laughs from the stars that gleam; Naked and redolent, Bends to me breasts of beam, Eyes that were made to dream, Throat that the dimples dent.

Would she were real, ah me! Would she were real and here! And no “impossible she”! But one to draw me near, Hold me and name me dear!-- But, that can never be!

“Living, each learns to know Life is not worth its pain; Loving, each finds a woe Or, at the end, a chain: Fardled of hope we strain Whither no hope may know.

“Life is too credulous Of time that beckons on. Memory still serves us thus-- Gauging each coming dawn By a day dead and gone, Day that ’s a part of us.”

So says my soul, that ’s mocked Here of the flesh and held; Ever rebellion rocked, Fighting, forever quelled; Titan-like, fate-compelled, Yearning to rise, but locked

Supine where torrents pour Hellward; on crags that, high, Scarred of the thunder, gore Heaven.... The vulture’s eye Swims, and the harpies’ cry Clangs through the ocean’s roar....

Then, like æolian light, Calling, it hears her lips: Scorched by her burning white Splendor of arms and hips, Slimy each horror slips Back to its native night....

Rul’st thou some brighter star? Inviolable queen Of what the destinies are? Thou, with thy light unseen Filling my life with sheen, Leading my soul afar!

Thou, who oft leav’st thy skies, Comest in dreams to me, With amaranthine eyes, Asphodel shadowy Hair, and mysteriously Say’st to my heart, “Arise!

“Be not afraid to dare All of life’s tyranny! I will reward thee there! There, where my love shall be Thine to eternity!-- Only be brave and bear!”