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Read Ebook: 'Twixt Earth and Stars: Poems by Hall Radclyffe
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Ebook has 330 lines and 17107 words, and 7 pages
POEMS
MARGUERITE RADCLYFFE-HALL
JOHN AND EDWARD BUMPUS LTD. 350 OXFORD STREET, LONDON, W.
MCMVI
DEDICATED TO MY INSPIRATION
I know that through the waves of air, Some part of all I feel for you, Must surely travel swift and true, Towards the heart for which I care So dumbly, and before it lay The words my lips shall never say.
IN A GARDEN
In the garden a thousand roses, A vine of jessamine flower, Sweetpeas in coquettish poses, Sweetbrier with its fragrant dower.
There are hollyhocks tall and slender, And marigolds gay and fair, And sunflowers in glowing splendour, Geraniums rich and rare;
And the wee, white, innocent daisy, Half hidden amid the lawn; A bee grown drowsy and lazy-- On honey he's drunk since dawn--
Is reposing with wings extended On some soft, passionate rose, Aglow with a blush more splendid Than ever a fair cheek knows.
While a thrush, in the ivy swinging That clusters over the gate, Athrob with the spring is singing, And ardently calls his mate.
For the spirit of all sweet odours The soul of a June unborn Has hallowed my humble garden, And whispered to me since dawn.
And the flowers in a prayer of rapture, Bent low to that spell divine, Are wafting their sweetest incense In clouds, at his sunlit shrine.
IF YOU WERE A ROSE AND I WERE THE SUN
If you were a Rose and I were the Sun What then, little girl, what then? I'd kiss you awake when day had begun, My sweet little girl, what then? I'd waken you out of your valley of dreams And open your heart with my passionate beams, 'Till you lifted your face to my ruddiest gleams, My own little girl, yes then.
If you were the Earth and I were the Dew, What then, little girl, what then? Why surely the thing all lovers would do, My sweet little girl, what then? I'd steal through the twilight, o'er valley and lea, And flood you with kisses, both tender and free 'Till the soul in you throbbed with the love that's in me, My own little girl, yes then.
But I am a man and you are a maid, What then, little girl, what then? You're cold in your pride, and I am afraid, My sweet little girl, what then? If you cannot love me and I cannot die There's nothing in life but the ghost of a sigh, And the day growing dark 'neath a colourless sky; My own little girl, yes then.
DRIFTING
It is sweet to lie in a boat, And drift with the languid stream, With body and soul afloat The lake of a perfect dream.
It is sweet in the afternoon, With just the breath of a breeze, If the time be the month of June And the birds sing low in the trees.
And the mind has a pleasant thought, And the heart has a fond desire, And the soul is a tissue wrought Of youth, and it's golden fire.
And the limbs are both clean and strong, And able to rest with joy, And our time in the world is long, With nothing that can destroy
The rapture of God's green earth, The throb and the ecstasy That springs into life with birth, And lives through eternity.
Dear heart! I was going away, Could you not have spared me an hour Of all your bountiful day? No moment, no word, no flower To keep; not even a tear? My soul was so thirsty, dear!
LOVE TRIUMPHANT
Ere the first grief was born Love was. And after griefs are gone Love still shall triumph on. Ere the first grief was born Love was.
In Eden grief became Love's slave. For in the dust and woe Lost Adam still could know Fond recompense, and so Did grief become Love's slave.
MY ROSE
A Rose! but what can it say, So tender, and sweet, and dumb; What part of my love convey, What thrill of the joys to come?
I send it, but how shall you, Dear heart, ever understand That rapturous tear of dew, It drops on your strong white hand?
Or know that my lips have pressed Those petals until they blush, Or feel that my heart has blessed The flower that your touch may crush?
IF ONLY
Oh! if one could only learn not to care, To be utterly indifferent storm or fair; And to say there's always pain With the joy, I don't complain, For the sunshine draws the rain Everywhere.
Oh! if one could only learn not to feel; To be absolutely callous, false or real; And to let the world go by, With a laugh to cap its sigh, With a jest to meet its lie, Cold as steel.
CONFESSION
Within the portals of thy shrine Before thy presence, dearest mine, I kneel, beseeching thee to bless My penitence, while I confess, And can a saint do any less?
If I have sinned as others do, All human hearts the wide world through Are erring things, and then with me My greatest wrong was loving thee, Wilt thou condemn my constancy?
Look down, dear heart, and let thine eyes Commend my soul to Paradise. He little sins, who sins in this That to obtain eternal bliss Seeks the communion of a kiss.
SUNLIGHT ON DISTANT HILLS
But a moment since and the sun was shining Over the hills that I see from my room. And now the rain and the mist come driving Out of the West, in a cloud of gloom. Over the woods, and meadows, and gardens, Hurries the storm like the hand of Doom.
But a moment hence and the clouds shall vanish; Breaking and drifting and all asunder. And lo! in their midst will the sky be lying Calm and blue with a peaceful wonder Nothing may alter, though sorrow and tempest Torture the Earth, as she trembles under.
MY LOVE
My love is a bird with a broken wing, Alone in a stormy night; My love is a lark that forgets to sing And dies with the morning light.
My love is a rose that the wind has torn, And crushed with a breath of pain; My love is song with the sweetness gone, A tune with a lost refrain.
My love is a ghost that has missed its way, A spirit from Heaven cast; My love is a joy of a bygone day, The soul of a burning past.
A MEMORY
No, I have not forgotten you, Although I went my way Unanswered, as you wished me to, With none to bid me stay.
For in my heart there is a space Whose door you closed to me, Locked in the memory of your face; Then took away the key.
What you deny me, you gave; You cannot take it again In life and after the grave There is something that even then, Death will not kill or destroy, It is so with the hearts of men.
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