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Chapter 1 SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY.
Well dost thou, Love, thy solemn Feast to hold
In vestal February;
Not rather choosing out some rosy day
From the rich coronet of the coming May,
When all things meet to marry!
O, quick, praevernal Power
That signall'st punctual through the sleepy mould
The Snowdrop's time to flower,
Fair as the rash oath of virginity
Which is first-love's first cry;
O, Baby Spring,
That flutter'st sudden 'neath the breast of Earth
A month before the birth;
Whence is the peaceful poignancy,
The joy contrite,
Sadder than sorrow, sweeter than delight,
That burthens now the breath of everything,
Though each one sighs as if to each alone
The cherish'd pang were known?
At dusk of dawn, on his dark spray apart,
With it the Blackbird breaks the young Day's heart;
In evening's hush
About it talks the heavenly-minded Thrush;
The hill with like remorse
Smiles to the Sun's smile in his westering course;
The fisher's drooping skiff
In yonder sheltering bay;
The choughs that call about the shining cliff;
The children, noisy in the setting ray;
Own the sweet season, each thing as it may;
Thoughts of strange kindness and forgotten peace
In me increase;
And tears arise
Within my happy, happy Mistress' eyes,
And, lo, her lips, averted from my kiss,
Ask from Love's bounty, ah, much more than bliss!
Is't the sequester'd and exceeding sweet
Of dear Desire electing his defeat?
Is't the waked Earth now to yon purpling cope
Uttering first-love's first cry,
Vainly renouncing, with a Seraph's sigh,
Love's natural hope?
Fair-meaning Earth, foredoom'd to perjury!
Behold, all-amorous May,
With roses heap'd upon her laughing brows,
Avoids thee of thy vows!
Were it for thee, with her warm bosom near,
To abide the sharpness of the Seraph's sphere?
Forget thy foolish words;
Go to her summons gay,
Thy heart with dead, wing'd Innocencies fill'd,
Ev'n as a nest with birds
After the old ones by the hawk are kill'd.
Well dost thou, Love, to celebrate
The noon of thy soft ecstasy,
Or e'er it be too late,
Or e'er the Snowdrop die!
Chapter 1 SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY.
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Chapter 2 WIND AND WAVE.
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Chapter 3 WINTER.
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Chapter 4 BEATA.
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Chapter 5 THE DAY AFTER TO-MORROW.
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Chapter 6 TRISTITIA.
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Chapter 7 THE AZALEA.
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Chapter 8 DEPARTURE.
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Chapter 9 EURYDICE.
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Chapter 10 THE TOYS.
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Chapter 11 TIRED MEMORY.
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Chapter 12 MAGNA EST VERITAS.
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Chapter 13 1867. {29}
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Chapter 14 'IF I WERE DEAD.'
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Chapter 15 PEACE.
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Chapter 16 A FAREWELL.
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Chapter 17 1880-85.
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Chapter 18 THE TWO DESERTS.
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Chapter 19 CREST AND GULF.
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Chapter 20 'LET BE!'
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Chapter 21 'FAINT YET PURSUING.'
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Chapter 22 VICTORY IN DEFEAT.
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Chapter 23 REMEMBERED GRACE.
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Chapter 24 TO THE UNKNOWN EROS.
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Chapter 25 THE CONTRACT.
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Chapter 26 ARBOR VITAE.
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Chapter 27 THE STANDARDS.
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Chapter 28 SPONSA DEI.
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Chapter 29 LEGEM TUAM DILEXI.
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Chapter 30 TO THE BODY.
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Chapter 31 'SING US ONE OF THE SONGS OF SION.'
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Chapter 32 DELICIAE SAPIENTIAE DE AMORE.
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Chapter 33 THE CRY AT MIDNIGHT.
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Chapter 34 AURAS OF DELIGHT.
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Chapter 35 EROS AND PSYCHE.
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Chapter 36 DE NATURA DEORUM.
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Chapter 37 PSYCHE'S DISCONTENT.
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Chapter 38 PAIN.
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Chapter 39 PROPHETS WHO CANNOT SING.
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Chapter 40 THE CHILD'S PURCHASE.
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