Once again shall my love subdue thee;
The past is past and I am come to thee. 20
‘O but Adam was thrall to Lilith!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
All the threads of my hair are golden,
And there in a net his heart was holden.
‘O and Lilith was queen of Adam! 25
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
All the day and the night together
My breath could shake his soul like a feather.
‘What great joys had Adam and Lilith! -
(And O the bower and the hour!) 30
Sweet close rings of the serpent’s twining,
As heart in heart lay sighing and pining.
‘What bright babes had Lilith and Adam! -
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Shapes that coiled in the woods and waters, 35
Glittering sons and radiant daughters.
‘O thou God, the Lord God of Eden!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Say, was this fair body for no man,
That of Adam’s flesh thou mak’st him a woman? 40
‘O thou Snake, the King-snake of Eden!
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
God’s strong will our necks are under,
But thou and I may cleave it in sunder.
‘Help, sweet Snake, sweet lover of Lilith! 45
(And O the bower and the hour!)
And let God learn how I loved and hated
Man in the image of God created.
‘Help me once against Eve and Adam!
(Eden bower’s in flower.) 50
Help me once for this one endeavour,
And then my love shall be thine for ever!
‘Strong is God, the fell foe of Lilith:
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Nought in heaven or earth may affright him;
But join thou with me and we will smite him.
‘Strong is God, the great God of Eden:
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Over all He made He hath power;
But lend me thou thy shape for an hour!
‘Lend thy shape for the love of Lilith!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Look, my mouth and my cheek are ruddy,
And thou art cold, and fire is my body.
‘Lend thy shape for the hate of Adam!
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
That he may wail my joy that forsook him,
And curse the day when the bride-sleep took him.
‘Lend thy shape for the shame of Eden!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Is not the foe-God weak as the foeman
When love grows hate in the heart of a woman?
‘Would’st thou know the heart’s hope of Lilith?
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Then bring thou close thine head till it glisten
Along my breast, and lip me and listen.
‘Am I sweet, O sweet Snake of Eden?
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Then ope thine ear to my warm mouth’s cooing
And learn what deed remains for our doing.
‘Thou didst hear when God said to Adam: -
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
“Of all this wealth I have made thee warden;
Thou’rt free to eat of the trees of the garden:
‘“Only of one tree eat not in Eden;
(And O the bower and the hour!)
All save one I give to thy freewill, -
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
‘O my love, come nearer to Lilith!
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
In thy sweet folds bind me and bend me,
And let me feel the shape thou shalt lend me!
‘In thy shape I’ll go back to Eden;
(And O the bower and the hour!)
In these coils that Tree will I grapple, 95
And stretch this crowned head forth by the apple.
‘Lo, Eve bends to the breath of Lilith!
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
O how then shall my heart desire
All her blood as food to its fire! 100
‘Lo, Eve bends to the words of Lilith! -
(And O the bower and the hour!)
“Nay, this Tree’s fruit, - why should ye hate it,
Or Death be born the day that ye ate it?
‘“Nay, but on that great day in Eden. 105
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
By the help that in this wise Tree is,
God knows well ye shall be as He is.”
‘Then Eve shall eat and give unto Adam;
(And O the bower and the hour!) 110
And then they both shall know they are naked,
And their hearts ache as my heart hath achèd.
‘Aye, let them hide in the trees of Eden,
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
As in the cool of the day in the garden 115
God shall walk without pity or pardon.
‘Hear, thou Eve, the man’s heart in Adam!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Of his brave words hark to the bravest: -
“This the woman gave that thou gavest.” 120
‘Hear Eve speak, yea, list to her, Lilith!
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Feast thine heart with words that shall sate it-
“This the serpent gave and I ate it.”
‘O proud Eve, cling close to thine Adam, 125
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Driven forth as the beasts of his naming
By the sword that for ever is flaming.
‘Know, thy path is known unto Lilith!
(Eden bower’s in flower.) 130
While the blithe birds sang at thy wedding,
There her tears grew thorns for thy treading.
‘O my love, thou Love-snake of Eden!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
O to-day and the day to come after! 135
Loose me, love, - give breath to my laughter!
‘O bright Snake, the Death-worm of Adam!
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Wreathe thy neck with my hair’s bright tether,
And wear my gold and thy gold together! 140
‘On that day on the skirts of Eden,
(And O the bower and the hour!)
In thy shape shall I glide back to thee,
And in my shape for an instant view thee.
‘But when thou’rt thou and Lilith is Lilith, 145
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
In what bliss past hearing or seeing
Shall each one drink of the other’s being!
With cries of “Eve!” and “Eden!” and “Adam!”
(And O the bower and the hour!) 150
How shall we mingle our love’s caresses,
I in thy coils, and thou in my tresses!
‘With those names, ye echoes of Eden,
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Fire shall cry from my heart that burneth, - 155
“Dust he is and to dust returneth!”
‘Yet to-day, thou master of Lilith, -
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Wrap me round in the form I’ll borrow
And let me tell thee of sweet to-morrow. 160
‘In the planted garden eastward in Eden,
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Where the river goes forth to water the garden,
The springs shall dry and the soil shall harden.
‘Yea, where the bride-sleep fell upon Adam, 165
(And O the bower and the hour!)
None shall hear when the storm-wind whistles
Through roses choked among thorns and thistles.
‘Yea, beside the east-gate of Eden,
(Eden bower’s in flower.) 170
Where God joined them and none might sever,
‘What of Adam cast out of Eden?
(And O the bower and the hour!)
Lo! with care like a shadow shaken, 175
He tills the hard earth whence he was taken.
‘What of Eve too, cast out of Eden?
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
Nay, but she, the bride of God’s giving,
Must yet be mother of all men living. 180
‘Lo, God’s grace, by the grace of Lilith!
(And O the bower and the hour!)
To Eve’s womb, from our sweet to-morrow,
God shall greatly multiply sorrow.
‘Fold me fast, O God-snake of Eden! 185
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
What more prize than love to impel thee?
Grip and lip my limbs as I tell thee!
‘Lo! two babes for Eve and for Adam!
(And O the bower and the hour!) 190
Lo! sweet Snake, the travail and treasure, -
Two men-children born for their pleasure!
‘The first is Cain and the second Abel:
(Eden bower’s in flower.)
The soul of one shall be made thy brother, 195
And thy tongue shall lap the blood of the other.’
(And O the bower and the hour!)
THE STREAM’S SECRET
What thing unto mine ear
Wouldst thou convey, - what secret thing,
O wandering water ever whispering?
Surely thy speech shall be of her.
Thou water, O thou whispering wanderer, 5
What message dost thou bring?
Say, hath not Love leaned low
This hour beside thy far well-head,
And there through jealous hollowed fingers said
The thing that most I long to know, - 10
Murmuring with curls all dabbled in thy flow
And washed lips rosy red?
He told it to thee there
Where thy voice hath a louder tone;
But where it welters to this little moan 15
His will decrees that I should hear.
Now speak: for with the silence is no fear,
And I am all alone.
Shall Time not still endow
One hour with life, and I and she 20
Slake in one kiss the thirst of memory?
Say stream; lest Love should disavow
Thy service, and the bird upon the bough
Sing first to tell it me.
What whisperest thou? Nay, why 25
Name the dead hours? I mind them well:
Their ghosts in many darkened doorways dwell
With desolate eyes to know them by.
The hour that must be born ere it can die, -
Of that I’d have thee tell. 30
But hear, before thou speak!
Withhold, I pray, the vain behest
That while the maze hath still its bower for quest
My burning heart should cease to seek.
Be sure that Love ordained for souls more meek 35
His roadside dells of rest.
Stream, when this silver thread
In flood-time is a torrent brown,
May any bulwark bind thy foaming crown?
Shall not the waters surge and spread 40
And to the crannied boulders of their bed
Still shoot the dead leaves down?
Let no rebuke find place
In speech of thine: or it shall prove
That thou dost ill expound the words of Love, 45
Even as thine eddy’s rippling race
Would blur the perfect image of his face.
I will have none thereof.
O learn and understand
That ‘gainst the wrongs himself did wreak 50
Love sought her aid; until her shadowy cheek
And eyes beseeching gave command;
And compassed in her close compassionate hand
My heart must burn and speak.
For then at last we spoke 55
What eyes so oft had told to eyes
Through that long-lingering silence whose half-sighs
Alone the buried secret broke
Which with snatched hands and lips’ reverberate stroke
Then from the heart did rise. 60
But she is far away
Now; nor the hours of night grown hoar
Bring yet to me, long gazing from the door,
The wind-stirred robe of roseate grey
And rose-crown of the hour that leads the day 65
When we shall meet once more.
Dark as thy blinded wave
When brimming midnight floods the glen, -
Bright as the laughter of thy runnels when
The dawn yields all the light they crave; 70
Even so these hours to wound and that to save
Are sisters in Love’s ken.
Oh sweet her bending grace
Then when I kneel beside her feet;
And sweet her eyes’ o’erhanging heaven; and sweet 75
The gathering folds of her embrace;
And her fall’n hair at last shed round my face
When breaths and tears shall meet.
Beneath her sheltering hair,
In the warm silence near her breast, 80
Our kisses and our sobs shall sink to rest;
As in some still trance made aware
That day and night have wrought to fulness there
And Love has built our nest.
And as in the dim grove, 85
When the rains cease that hushed them long,
‘Mid glistening boughs the song-birds wake to song, -
So from our hearts deep-shrined in love,
While the leaves throb beneath, around, above,
The quivering notes shall throng. 90
Till tenderest words found vain
Draw back to wonder mute and deep,
And closed lips in closed arms a silence keep,
Subdued by memory’s circling strain, -
The wind-rapt sound that the wind brings again 95
While all the willows weep.
Then by her summoning art
Shall memory conjure back the sere
Autumnal Springs, from many a dying year
Born dead; and, bitter to the heart, 100
The very ways where now we walk apart
Who then shall cling so near.
And with each thought new-grown,
Some sweet caress or some sweet name
Low-breathed shall let me know her thought the same; 105
Making me rich with every tone
And touch of the dear heaven so long unknown
That filled my dreams with flame.
Pity and love shall burn
In her pressed cheek and cherishing hands; 110
And from the living spirit of love that stands
Between her lips to soothe and yearn,
Each separate breath shall clasp me round in turn
And loose my spirit’s bands.
Oh passing sweet and dear, 115
Then when the worshipped form and face
Are felt at length in darkling close embrace;
Round which so oft the sun shone clear,
With mocking light and pitiless atmosphere,
In many an hour and place. 120
Ah me! with what proud growth
Shall that hour’s thirsting race be run;
While, for each several sweetness still begun
Afresh, endures love’s endless drouth:
Sweet hands, sweet hair, sweet cheeks, sweet eyes, sweet mouth, 125
Each singly wooed and won.
Yet most with the sweet soul
Shall love’s espousals then be knit;
For very passion of peace shall breathe from it
O’er tremulous wings that touch the goal, 130
As on the unmeasure
d height of Love’s control
The lustral fires are lit.
Therefore, when breast and cheek
Now part, from long embraces free, -
Each on the other gazing shall but see 135
A self that has no need to speak:
All things unsought, yet nothing more to seek,-
One love in unity.
O water wandering past, -
Albeit to thee I speak this thing, 140
O water, thou that wanderest whispering,
Thou keep’st thy counsel to the last.
What spell upon thy bosom should Love cast,
His message thence to wring?
Nay, must thou hear the tale 145
Of the past days, - the heavy debt
Of life that obdurate time withholds, - ere yet
To win thine ear these prayers prevail,
And by thy voice Love’s self with high All-hail
Yield up the love-secret? 150
How should all this be told? -
All the sad sum of wayworn days;-
Heart’s anguish in the impenetrable maze;
And on the waste uncoloured wold
The visible burthen of the sun grown cold 155
And the moon’s labouring gaze?
Alas! shall hope be nurs’d
On life’s all-succouring breast in vain,
And made so perfect only to be slain?
Or shall not rather the sweet thirst 160
Even yet rejoice the heart with warmth dispers’d
And strength grown fair again?
Stands it not by the door-
Love’s Hour - till she and I shall meet;
With bodiless form and unapparent feet 165
That cast no shadow yet before,
Though round its head the dawn begins to pour
The breath that makes day sweet?
Its eyes invisible
Watch till the dial’s thin-thrown shade 170
Be born, - yea, till the journeying line be laid
Upon the point that wakes the spell,
And there in lovelier light than tongue can tell
Its presence stand array’d.
Its soul remembers yet 175
Those sunless hours that passed it by;
And still it hears the night’s disconsolate cry,
And feels the branches wringing wet
Cast on its brow, that may not once forget,
Dumb tears from the blind sky. 180
But oh! when now her foot
Draws near, for whose sake night and day
Were long in weary longing sighed away, -
The Hour of Love, ‘mid airs grown mute,
Shall sing beside the door, and Love’s own lute 185
Thrill to the passionate lay.
Thou know’st, for Love has told
Within thine ear, O stream, how soon
That song shall lift its sweet appointed tune.
O tell me, for my lips are cold, 190
And in my veins the blood is waxing old
Complete Poetical Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti Page 14
