To
NI
DU A
TH OF
BA.
HE
EN OF
BA.
HE
LD.
NG
ON.
HE
TH I live before the Moon of Queens,
I live and die before her sweet,
White, secret, wise, indifferent feet;
And love, that is my life-blood, means No more to her than summer heat Or sudden sweetness of the flowers.
O colder than the icy moon,
That hides and dreams all day, to swoon At night among the Starry hours When the pale night is at its noon!
She, the one whiteness of the earth,
For whom the ardent valley grows A flame, an odour, and the rose,
Finds in the world but wisdom worth The trouble of the soul's repose.
Kings from the Weft,
Kings from the Bas% Have poured out gold, incense, and myrrh In tribute at the feet of her,
To whom the word of sage or priest Is more than these and lovelier Than battles reddening the plain,
Or cities washed with smoking waves,
Or far-off continents of slaves Bound captive to her anklet chain,
Or conquest of uncounted graves.
Kings from the East,
Kings from the Weft,
Have come and gone, and no man yet Has found the frozen amulet That seals her heart within her breast.
HE
LD Room for the Queen of Sheba, let The hearts and knees of all men bow!
HE
EN OF
BA O gazer of the Stars, draw near,
I have a tiding for thine car,
Now all things are accomplished, now The master of the world is here:
Mine eyes have looked on Solomon.
HE
TH May the Queen prosper in all things!
HE
EN OF
BA The wisdom of the King of Kings Is as his God's pavilion,
Pure gold, and veiled by seraph's wings.
Else were it brighter than white light:
As in a tender sea I bathe In brightness, and its waves enswathe My inmost spirit with delight.
HE
TH Be all things even as the Queen saith!
HE
EN OF
BA I have unburdened all my soul,
And he has filled my soul with his:
There is none wiser than he is,
His soul has opened to the whole World's wisdom, as to happiness,
And wisdom blossoms like a flower That need but blossom to be fair;
And as the crown upon his hair His pure magnificence of power Garlands his going everywhere.
HE
TH The Queen is wiser than all men;
Why should the Queen of Queens bow clown To any wisdom, when the crown Of wisdom is her own, and when The soul of wisdom is her own?
HE
EN OF
BA I am a child before this man,
I have but played with toys, and fought With shadows, and my little thought Shrivels before him to a span,
And all I am is less than nought.
HE
TH Madam, the Kings of all the earth Have been accounted in your eyes Even as a little dust of spice,
A little fragrant moment's worth;
Yet these, although they were not wise,
Madam, these loved you with a love That was a shield and buckler flung About yout life, a banner, hung Upon the topmost towers thereof;
And these were mighty, and these young,
And all had died fot you, and all Had lived for you, and all had been,
Being Kings, the servants of the Queen.
Shall Solomon attend your call,
Shall he, a slave with slaves, be seen?
HE
EN OF
BA O youth that speakest these brave words,
Hast thou loved any?
HE
TH Madam, yea.
HE
EN OF
BA And did thy will choose out thy way,
And didst thou love for flocks and herds,
And didst thou love who loved thee, say?
HE
TH Madam,
I loved but for love's sake.
HE
EN OF
BA Happily?
HE
TH Happily; in vain.
HE
EN OF
BA Wouldst thou be free of love again?
HE
TH O Queen, how gladly would I take Into my heart a tenfold pain!
HE
EN OF
BA Thou lovest well.
I would love well.
HE
LD Room for the King of Israel, bow Your hearts and knees before him now,
Room for the King of Israel!
HE
EN OF
BA King of the Kings of earth, hail thou.
NG
ON O Queen, in Sheba haft thou found Among the groves of spice and myrrh The honeyed wisdom lovelier Upon thy moving lips than sound Of psaltery or dulcimer?
HE
EN OF
BA O King,
I have given up my youth To wisdom,
I have sought to find The secret influences that bind Star unto Slat, the grains of truth Shredded in sand beneath the wind,
The secret dropping in the rain,
The secret hushed among the reeds And huddled in the heart of weeds;
And I have called across the plain Wise men whose words are more than deeds,
And I have listened to their speech,
And talked with those Arabians Whose memory is more than man's,
And read with them the books that teach The lore of the Egyptians.
And I have given up for this The joy of love, and all the spring,
And all the garden blossoming With scents of simple happiness,
And every sweet unthoughtful thing.
I have given up the joys of life That I might find its secret; lo,
I have attained not even to know Why, when thou comes! near, the Strife That comes and goes and will not go Out of my heart is Strangely Stilled.
O King, my wisdom unto thine Is as a shadow, and no more mine;
Thou in whom wisdom is fulfilled,
Canst thou the word of life divine?
NG
ON O Queen,
I also have inquired,
And sought out wisdom patiently,
And if in all the world there be More wisdom yet to be desired,
Wisdom is weariness to me.
For wisdom, being attained, but shows That all things are but shadows cast On running water, swiftly past,
And as the shadow of the rose That withers in the mirror glassed.
What shall it profit me to have been Yesterday happy, if to-day I am sad, and where is yesterday?
What shall it profit me,
O Queen,
When I am dead, and laid away Under the earth, to have been wise,
To have lived long and ruled with might,
When all the ancient weight of night Is as a burden on mine eyes,
And all the word is full of light?
There is one secret unto all:
Though life be fair or life forlorn,
Though men bow down to thee or scorn,
Howe'er fate fill the interval, 'Tis better not to have been born.
HE
EN OF
BA O King, how then may we that live Bess: use the interval that waits Between the closed and open gates?
How may we best,
O King, forgive For this sad gift the unfriendly fates?
NG
ON Queen, we may love.
HE
EN OF
BA Yet is not love,
As life, illusion?
NG
ON Even so deep,
That this enchants into its sleep Even them that know the secret of The enchanted slumber that they keep.
Love only of illusions brings The present to the present hour;
Wisdom and wealth and State and power Promise the future, whose slow wings.
When we have reached it, do but shower A little travelling dust on us While groping in the dust we bow;
Love only is the eternal now,
Being of our frailty piteous.
When thou art I, and I am thou,
Time is no more; the heavy world,
As we among the lilies, we Under the vine and almond tree,
Wake to that slumber, might be hurled Into the void eternity,
And we not know.
Beloved, come Into the garden dim with spice;
Let us forget that we are wise,
And wisdom, though it be the sum Of all but love, is love's disguise.
Let us forget all else that is,
Save this, that joy is ours to know,
A moment, ere he turn and go,
And that joy's moment, love, is this.
HE
EN OF
BA Beloved, be it even so.
HE
TH He who has found all wisdom out Is yet too wise to find out love;
His wisdom and the pride thereof Is as a cloud folded about The brightness of the sun above.
He does not know that love is breath A man but breathes because he must;
A breath, a bondage, and a trust,
That knows not time, that knows not death,
That knows not love which is but lm% Nor love which is but vain desire.
He, who is wisdom, does not see It is from all eternity.
Man loves that love which shall not tire When heaven and earth have ceased to be.
She, for his moment, loves not him.
But wisdom; let him love, not her,
But love;
I, waiting lonelier Than even of old, watch out the dim And shadowy days, that without stir Into the dusk of years descend;
I wait, till heaven and earth being gone,
She conies to me to be my own Until this love come to an end.
Bow down to me,
O Solomon!
