Dirge

Stay,

Death,

Not mine the

Wherewith to charge thee and command:

I plead.

Most gently hold the

Of her thou leadest far away;

Fear thou to let her naked

Tread ashes--but let mosses

Her footing tempt, where'er ye stray.

Shun Orcus; win the moonlit

Belulled--the silent meadows lone,

Where never any leaf is

From lily-stem in Azrael's hand.

There, till her love rejoin her lowly(Pensive, a shade, but all her own)On honey feed her, wild and holy;

Or trance her with thy choicest charm.

And if, ere yet the lover's free,

Some added dusk thy rule decree--That shadow only let it

Thrown in the moon-glade by the palm.