The blessed damozel leaned
From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the
Of waters stilled at even;
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven.
Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,
No wrought flowers did adorn,
But a white rose of Mary's gift,
For service meetly worn;
Her hair that lay along her
Was yellow like ripe corn.
Herseemed she scarce had been a
One of God's choristers;
The wonder was not yet quite
From that still look of hers;
Albeit, to them she left, her
Had counted as ten years.(To one, it is ten years of years.. . .
Yet now, and in this place,
Surely she leaned o'er me—her
Fell all about my face. . .
Nothing: the autumn-fall of leaves.
The whole year sets apace.)It was the rampart of God's
That she was standing on;
By God built over the sheer
The which is Space begun;
So high, that looking downward
She scarce could see the sun.
It lies in Heaven, across the
Of ether, as a bridge.
Beneath, the tides of day and
With flame and darkness
The void, as low as where this
Spins like a fretful midge.
Around her, lovers, newly met'Mid deathless love's acclaims,
Spoke evermore among
Their heart-remembered names;
And the souls mounting up to
Went by her like thin flames.
And still she bowed herself and
Out of the circling charm;
Until her bosom must have
The bar she leaned on warm,
And the lilies lay as if
Along her bended arm.
From the fixed place of Heaven she
Time like a pulse shake
Through all the worlds.
Her gaze still
Within the gulf to
Its path; and now she spoke as
The stars sang in their spheres.
The sun was gone now; the curled
Was like a little
Fluttering far down the gulf; and
She spoke through the still weather.
Her voice was like the voice of the
Had when they sang together.(Ah sweet!
Even now, in that bird's song,
Strove not her accents there,
Fain to be hearkened?
When those
Possessed the mid-day air,
Strove not her steps to reach my
Down all the echoing stair?)“I wish that he were come to me,
For he will come,” she said.“Have I not prayed in Heaven?—on earth,
Lord,
Lord, has he not pray'd?
Are not two prayers a perfect strength?
And shall I feel afraid?“When round his head the aureole clings,
And he is clothed in white,
I'll take his hand and go with
To the deep wells of light;
As unto a stream we will step down,
And bathe there in God's sight.“We two will stand beside that shrine,
Occult, withheld, untrod,
Whose lamps are stirred
With prayer sent up to God;
And see our old prayers, granted,
Each like a little cloud.“We two will lie i' the shadow
That living mystic
Within whose secret growth the
Is sometimes felt to be,
While every leaf that His plumes
Saith His Name audibly.“And I myself will teach to him,
I myself, lying so,
The songs I sing here; which his
Shall pause in, hushed and slow,
And find some knowledge at each pause,
Or some new thing to know.”(Alas!
We two, we two, thou say'st!
Yea, one wast thou with
That once of old.
But shall God
To endless
The soul whose likeness with thy
Was but its love for thee?)“We two,” she said, “will seek the
Where the lady Mary is,
With her five handmaidens, whose
Are five sweet symphonies,
Cecily,
Gertrude,
Magdalen,
Margaret and Rosalys.“Circlewise sit they, with bound
And foreheads garlanded;
Into the fine cloth white like
Weaving the golden thread,
To fashion the birth-robes for
Who are just born, being dead.“He shall fear, haply, and be dumb:
Then will I lay my
To his, and tell about our love,
Not once abashed or weak:
And the dear Mother will
My pride, and let me speak.“Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,
To Him round whom all
Kneel, the clear-ranged unnumbered
Bowed with their aureoles:
And angels meeting us shall
To their citherns and citoles.“There will I ask of Christ the
Thus much for him and me:—Only to live as once on
With Love,—only to be,
As then awhile, for ever
Together,
I and he.”She gazed and listened and then said,
Less sad of speech than mild,—“All this is when he comes.” She ceased.
The light thrilled towards her,
With angels in strong level flight.
Her eyes prayed, and she smil'd.(I saw her smile.) But soon their
Was vague in distant spheres:
And then she cast her arms
The golden barriers,
And laid her face between her hands,
And wept. (I heard her tears.)
