Radclyffe Hall

“ The joy of a love is as nothing, for through me
There passes the deep-wounding thorn of the roses.
[28]
TO ——
The wind's on the hill,
The sun's on the lea,
The lark's on the wing
And the dawn's on the sea,
And the rapture that springeth of Love, is on me.
[29]
THOUGHTS
Ah! the kiss of the sweet night air,
And the still, deep eyes of the cloudy skies,
Grown dim with peace:
Peace, the angel of death, that is everywhere.
Ah! the bliss of the soul at rest,
And of eyes that weep growing calm in sleep,
Hushéd by night:
Night, the shadow of death, that in blessing is blessed. ”

“ And able to rest with joy,
And our time in the world is long,
With nothing that can destroy
The rapture of God's green earth,
The throb and the ecstasy
That springs into life with birth,
And lives through eternity. ”

“ Come forth and smile, with rapture bright and gay,
That I may see.
Good-morning, sweet! look up that I may live,
Kiss me that I may taste of Heaven here,
The joys of Paradise are thine to give,
Good-morning, dear! ”

“ You're cold in your pride, and I am afraid,
My sweet little girl, what then?
If you cannot love me and I cannot die
There's nothing in life but the ghost of a sigh,
And the day growing dark 'neath a colourless sky ”

“ Cannot the throb of passion arouse one wave in answer,
Or stir to sighing cadence your silent willow boughs?
Must always—for ever, your brow be smooth and tranquil,
Though hearts may break in anguish, or burn with ecstasy? ”

“ Kiss you—and then in rapture
Folding their pinions die.
[102]
II
There is something divinely happy,
And something divinely fair,
At work in the world this morning,
Its spirit is everywhere.
I'm filled with a sense of youngness,
My limbs are alive and strong,
My heart with a throb of gladness
Re-echoes the Ocean's song.
The sun is a splendid halo,
That sets on the brow of earth,
The wind is the flute of silver
He tunes to his strains of mirth. ”

“ That thrills the aching spirit with unrest
And sets the brain on fire.
Oh! God, but once to rise above the flesh,
To breathe our inmost thoughts in one vast sigh
Of rapture. Oh! to realise ourselves,
And at that moment ... die. ”

“ It were then no sinning though I kissed her free.
[87]
TO THE NIGHTINGALE
Oh Nightingale, has that pale star heard you
Sobbing your passion into a song?
Has she deigned to stoop from her throne of splendour,
Deigned to pity your life's surrender,
Deigned to throw you a beam-smile tender,
You who have waited and loved so long?
Oh Nightingale, is your wondrous music
Cleaving the depths of the dark apart,
Born of a hope that is wearily dying? ”

“ The rapture and the living glow
Of lips, and breast, and hair.
But as it is, the earth you press,
The clinging texture of your dress,
The jewel on your hand
Know more of Heaven and joys therein
Than I, whose soul has never been
Where it could understand.
[63]
ROSES FALL
One by one the roses' petals fall to earth;
Though God's sun is still above them,
And the ardent breezes love them
They must die.
Ere their greatest joy is born,
Lo! they wither and are gone ”

“ Of waggons, journeyed from the sun-baked plains;
A laugh, an oath, as chance acquaintance meet;
The bark of dogs, the crack of whip and reins;
And then, with booming of combined refrains,
The ringing, swinging, singing bells of Rome.
Sunset, and purple shadows o'er the dome
Of sky above St Peter's; and the square
As silent as a graveyard, and as dumb.
Within the church, a peasant deep in prayer ”

“ She stretches forth her slender arms,
New decked with leafy dower. [38]
While through her wondrous, living form
The sap of life leaps strong and warm,
Awaking from repose
The folded buds to know the Spring,
It seems I almost hear them sing
For rapture as it flows. ”