Radclyffe Hall

“ From some far sphere wherein thy soul doth sing
This earth, that once was thine, while glimmered gold
The joyous beams of youth's forgotten spring?
Can thine unfathomed eyes embrace this sea,
Whose ebb and flow once echoed in thy brain?
Whose tides bear record of thine ecstasy
And thy despair, that in its arms hath lain?
Those love-burnt lips! Can death have quenched their fire?
Whose words oft stir our senses to unrest?
Whose eager ardour caught and held desire,
A searing flame against thy living breast? ”

“ For Earth in her passion is wholly consuming their stream.
The ardour and terror of living is rife in the air,
The air that is breathless, and stranger to motion or sound,
A rapture so potent it seems near akin to despair
Is drawing the life-blood in mist, from the sun-ravished ground.
And out thro' this region grown tense with creation's desire,
Inconsequent, fragile as thistledown wafted by breeze,
Two butterflies flutter, like snow-flakes that fall upon fire, [24]
Far into the flame-land, that stretches away from the trees. ”

“ Of the rose that climbs, and the scent that clings?
Of the breeze that sighs, and the thrush that sings?
Dust and ashes and death?
No, my dearest! for you and I
Here on the hill's summit under the sky
Have found a magic, time cannot deny
To make immortal what else must die,
The magic of Love's warm breath. ”

“ She stirred, she opened her drowsy eyes,
And bending down from the dome above,
Beheld the form of embodied Love,
As Spring stepped Earthward from Paradise.
[10]
A SUMMER THOUGHT
I often think that all those vast desires
For purer joys, that thrill the human heart,
Vague yearnings such as solitude inspires,
That nameless something silence can impart,
Could after all be quenched by simple things,
Whose spirits dwell within the wide-eyed flowers,
Or haunt deep glades, where scent of primrose clings
About the garments of the passing hours.
[11]
MOTH TO THE FLAME
Moth to the flame! ”

“ Contentedly, where living love is not!
Can fling wan fragrance thro' this empty room,
Lift languid petals shimmering 'mid the gloom
Where love is not.
Roses, I hate you! that you do not die
Disconsolate, since love himself is dead.
These ghosts of burnt-out kisses drifting by,
Have they no power to hurt, to terrify,
Since love is dead?
And all these spectral words that haunt the air
With hollow sounds, grown awful, meaningless!
Can you still blossom passionately fair
Within this region, frigid with despair?
Where all is dead?
[83]
ON THE SEA-SHORE
Can nothing last? ”

“ Ah! the life of the birds is fair,
For they wing to the spheres they love.
And if I could but fly and sing
Thro' the sweetness of this dear day,
I would bring all the hope of May,
To thy heart, that is wan for Spring.
[85]
TO ——
What a lonely little corpse our love is lying,
Very cold, and very still, and very drear!
Yet he throbbed with passion there was no denying,
And we thought his every word divinely dear!
Have we both grown old, that neither sheds a tear?
Have our hearts grown dry perchance with too much sighing? ”

“ A hopeful thrush charms his thought to song,
And all that's joyous within me springs
To meet the promise of which he sings.
Away to Heaven the melting view
Is soft with raptures of endless blue;
The trees and meadows, the hills and plains,
Like music woven of countless strains [53]
Submerge, entwine, till the eye can see
No shade that is not a harmony.
As part of nature's most perfect whole
Each humble object conceives a soul ”

“ When strife and evil rose,
The worse and lesser part
Which it for ever chose,
God knows.
The passions that have bound
My soul with chains of earth,
The sorrows that have found
Their home with me since birth,
The dearth
Of all these nobler things
That make existence fair,
The stain of sin that clings
Until we cease to care
For prayer, [42] ”

“ Nor shall a rose lift up its longing face
That we may cool our lips upon its mouth. [88]
And side by side with petals and with sighs,
With overweening tenderness and trust,
Shall rest the deadly layer of choking dust:
A weary skull, its sockets bare of eyes,
With grinning pathos from the title page
Will bear stark record of its master Death.
Sightless, yet seeing all Eternity,
With silent voice that rings more truthfully
Than any words we quickened with our breath
More full of wisdom than the speech of sage. ”

“ No forest glade but sighs of vast surrender,
In noontide dreams,
No star in heaven but grants a starry lover
Some tender boon,
No drifting cloud but longs to clasp and cover
His lady Moon.
No song of bird that is not song of mating,
In sylvan shade,
No sigh of wind that is not sigh of waiting
For bliss delayed.
The world itself a garden, where we wander
'Mid passion flowers,
Or pause to kiss a while, and fondly ponder
This joy of ours.
[68]
A COMPLAINT
Oh! ”

“ Above them, grown potent with strength to create or destroy, [25]
The shafts of the sun, that have smitten and withered the flower.
And still with frail bodies unmoved by the vastness of things
These fairy white butterflies flutter like spirits of light,
They pause for an instant, then spreading their tremulous wings,
Fly into the infinite, fading away from my sight.
[26]
THOUGHTS
A drop of dew that on a rose-bud clings,
A ray of sunshine in a world of Springs,
A bird, who singing from some hidden tree,
Is bathed in streams of endless melody ”

“ Are your hands wrinkled? Oh! my perfect hands!
Be not less lovely now that passion stands
Aloof, and dare not kiss you into flame—
I could not bear it! Time can never blight
Such marvels, so divinely slim and white.
[105]
TO SOME ONE!
Why kinder to the breeze than unto me? ”

“ Is more enduring than eternal things!
Oh! blessed madness that possessed the heart,
Oh! sweet unreason that could cloud the mind,
Alas! that we have left you far behind,
And growing wise must lose the dearer part,
Of which not even the faintest perfume clings. ”

“ Sing, sing, sweet friend, but soft, though eagerly!
With tender pauses in between the notes
Filled up with little sighs, unconsciously—
These rose-dropped petals, they are fairy boats
Our souls may sail on lakes of melody
Adown whose ripples youth eternal floats.
[112]
IV
Oh! ”

“ She has a gift of expression always felicitous, not infrequently spontaneous, and her rhythms are really musical. Moreover, the level of her book is uniformly high. In writing of nature her intuition and sympathy are remarkable. Nearly every poem contains something which clings to your memory and sets you thinking.... The main note is vigorous, joyous youth, thankful for the right to exist in such a lovely world.
"If Miss Radclyffe-Hall acquires a higher finish she may confidently look forward to taking her place among the poetesses of this country. ”

“ It is not often one can so honestly recommend the public to buy a volume of poetry."—The Queen, 4th July, 1906.
"The author of ''Twixt Earth and Stars' has a real talent for versification, and the subjects chosen are all poetical, added to which she has real feeling and the power to express it. I am so charmed with this little book of poems that I cannot help recommending it to you, that you also may enjoy it."—The Lady, 5th July, 1906.
"A little book of short poems, most of which are very pleasant, being marked by sincerity and sweetness."—Evening Standard, 21st July, 1906. ”

“ To burn awhile, like this small soothing toy
Between my lips: Time's galling iron yoke
Is not for us, we made and we'll destroy.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
The following poems from "'Twixt Earth and Stars," by Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall, have been set to music:
By MR. HUBERT BATH
"A Song." Chappell and Co.
"Italian Spring." Boosey and Co.
"On the Lagoon." Boosey and Co.
By MR. EATHORPE MARTIN
"Shall I Complain?" Metzler and Co.
Transcriber's Notes
Minor punctuation and printer errors repaired. ”