A Sheaf of Verses: Poems - Radclyffe Hall

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       THE POET

       A NIGHT IN ITALY

       HANDS AND LIPS

       WE TWO

       TO ——

       NORTH AND SOUTH

       ON THE HILL TOP

       THE MOON

       SPECULATION

       THE MEETING

       TO SOME ONE!

       OUT AT SEA

       FAITH

       THE SCAR

       COMPARISON

       AN INTERLUDE

       I

       II

       III

       IV

       V

       VI

       Table of Contents

      Sunlight and shade,

      Moorland and glade,

      Evening and day,

      Winter and May,

      Troubadour breeze,

      Amorous trees,

      Pondering Hills,

      Gold daffodils

      Born of the Spring,

      Thrushes that sing

      Passionate notes

      From downy throats,

      Be unto me

      Each one of ye

      Sister or brother;

      And Earth be my mother!

       Table of Contents

      The Moon looked in at the window,

      And smiled as I wrote to you,

      She lay like a frail white maiden,

      In shadowy folds of blue.

      Her bosom was bare and tender,

      And slight, for she still was young,

      And down from her dainty shoulders

      A mantle of starlight hung.

      She wooed with a wanton ardour

      The winds till they lulled to sighs,

      And night was transformed with beauty,

      For love of her limpid eyes.

      The soul of the cloudy darkness

      Awakened beneath her beams,

      The sky swooned away with longing,

      The Earth stirred in tender dreams.

      Alas! for the moon was cruel,

      Far colder than snow was she,

      Her heart was a burnt-out Planet,

      Her light but a fallacy:

      And she looked at my open letter,

      And called from her couch on high,

      "Pray give my love to my Sister

      Who is even more cold than I."

       Table of Contents

      Once o'er this hill whereon we stand,

      Just you and I, hand clasp'd in hand

      Amid the silence, and the space,

      A mighty battle rent the air,

      With dying curse and choking prayer;

      'Mid shot and shell death stalked apace.

      Is it conceivable to you—

      So much at peace—because we two

      Are close together, or to me?

      The silent beauty of the noon

      Seems like a Heaven-granted boon,

      Aglow with tender ecstasy.

      A little mist of hazy blue

      Is slowly hiding from our view

      The city's domes and slender spires,

      As thro' a bridal veil the sun

      Subdued and shy lights one by one

      The virgin clouds with blushing fires.

      The wind has fallen; very low

      We hear his wings brush past, and know

      He creeps away to dream and rest;

      How sweet to be alone, to feel

      You breathe one longing sigh, and steal

      A little closer to my breast.

      Is anything worth while but this?

      We may not perish for a kiss,

      Yet thus it were not hard to die!

      War strews the earth with countless dead,

      And after all is done and said,

      The end is love, and you and I!

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