XXXI

COMRADES

Yet for the honourable felicity Of comradeship I can be chivalrous, And through love's transmutations fierily Constant as the gemmed paladin Sirius To that fair pact. We go, gay challengers, Beneath dark rampires of forbidden thought, Thread life's dim gardens masked like revellers Where dreams of roses red are dearly bought. We shall ride haughtily as bright Crusaders, As hooded palmers fare with humbled hearts, And we shall find, adoring blithe invaders, The City of Seven Towers, of Seven Arts.— Then the Last Quest, (lead you the dreadful way!) Among the unimagined Nebulae!

 

 

 

 

XXXII

THE SUM OF THINGS

TO ANOTHER WOMAN

Well, I am tired, who fared to divers ends, And you are not, who kept the beaten path; But mystic Vintagers have been my friends, Even Love and Death and Sin and Pride and Wrath. Wounded am I, you are immaculate; But great Adventurers were my starry guides: From God's Pavilion to the Flaming Gate Have I not ridden as an immortal rides? And your dry soul crumbles by dim degrees To final dust quite happily, it appears, While all the sweetness of her nectaries Can only stand within my heart like tears. O throbbing wounds, rich tears, and splendour spent,— Ye are all my spoil, and I am well content.

 

 

 

 

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