HOUSE OF TEARS

THE HOUSE OF LOVE

 

Often between the midnight and the morn

I wake and see the angels round my bed;

Then fall asleep again, well-comforted.

I wait not now till that clear dawn be born

Shall lead my feet (O Love, thine eyes are worn

With watching) where her feet have late been led;

Nor lie awake, saying the words she said--

(Her yellow hair.--Have ye seen yellow corn?)

I fall asleep and dream and quite forget,

For here in heaven I know a new love's birth

Which casteth out all memory. And yet

(As I had loved her more, O Christ, on earth,

Hadst Thou not been so long unsought, unmet)

Some morrow Thou shalt learn my worship's worth.

THE HOUSE OF BEAUTY

 

She pauseth; and as each great mirror swings

(O ruined Helen, O once golden hair)

I see Œnone's ashes scattered there.

Another, and, behold, the shadowed things

Are violated tombs of shrunken kings.

And yet another (O, how thou wert fair!),

And I see one, black-clad, who prayeth where

No sound of sword on cloven helmet rings.

Yet, were I Paris, once more should I see

Troy's seaward gates for us swung open wide.

Or old Nile's glory, were I Anthony.

Or, were I Launcelot, the garden-side

At Joyous Gard. Surely; for even to me,

Where Love hath lived hath Beauty never died.

THE HOUSE OF CONTENT