love poetry

So long as we are exiled from God, we can scarcely escape sin .

R ESTORATION

I CAME into the world for love of Thee,
 I left Thee at Thy bidding;
I put off my white robes and shining crown
And came into this world for love of Thee.

I have lived in the grey light for love of Thee,
 In mean and darken'd houses:
The scarlet fruits of knowledge and of sin
Have stain'd me with their juice for love of Thee.

I could not choose but sin for love of Thee,

GATES OF LOVE

I S that thy voice which, deep in haunted glades,
Expounds the passion of the nightingale?
Is that thy smile which on these Kentish cliffs
Pours mellow warmth o'er miles of waving wheat?
Is that thine eyes' light on the gleaming sea?
Is that the flower-sweet fragrance of thy breath
In hyacinthine dingles, deeply sunk,
Possess'd by spells and incense? Is it thou
Whose beauty's morn, in amaranthine blue
And glory draped, looks down on joyful earth
And royal majesty of open main

It is, it was, and yet it was not. No,
The thing that was is not the thing I knew,
What God Himself has done can Time undo,
Take what He gave? O Earth, thy lilies blow;
And bright, O Heaven, is thy morning glow,
And quickly comes the winter, comes the night —
And even so our glory and delight
Must pass — the thing we treasure even so.

We saw Thy gifts and loved, and Thee we saw,
Bright in their brightness — Thee we saw and loved —
And not in vain our hearts were inly moved,
And not in vain the rapture and the awe;

O great Immortal, take my mortal hand,
One moment let me feel thy hand on mine,
And tell me of the mansions that are thine,
Far in the bright remote mysterious land;
Where purer ripples break upon the strand,
Where brighter stars and larger planets shine,
Where earth is fairer, heaven more divine,
And loving souls in Love's high presence stand.

And thou shalt tell me also how thy place
Was vacant, how thou didst not hold in scorn
The taint of mortal things and Time's disgrace;
And even to man, the outcast and forlorn,

" THE rocks are steep, the river deep and broad,
The way is hard to find, and night is near;
O hear the voice of Him who loves thee dear,
O pilgrim, pilgrim, listen to thy Lord!
There in the darkness, evil shapes abhorred
Crouch in the place of dragons — pilgrim, hear!
And take the gift of Him who loves thee dear;
O pilgrim, take the Lamp and take the Sword! —

" I hear, I take the gifts thaThe has given,
The Lord of all the lanterns of the sky,
And all the swords of all the hosts of heaven;

I WEPT , and weeping said my tears between,
" O dead immortal Master, shall I chide
Life? — Thou hast lived it — Death? — and Thou hast died;
Or shall Thy servant hold it vile and mean
To see the things the Master's eye hath seen,
To tread the path the Master's feet have trod
Bright with the footsteps of the Living God;
Love what He loved, and be what He has been?"

And if it is alone that I must go,
And if I have no comrade at my side,
And if I search the vacant heavens and see
No hope or comfort — aye, if it be so,

Soft in the garden blows the breath of Spring,
Sweet to his sweetheart coos the brooding dove,
Soft to the dreamer murmurs dreaming Love,
As soft, as sweet, as swiftly vanishing;
Soft to the dreaming ear Love's red lips sing,
" Now is the hour to dream and now the day:
Swiftly the moments pass away, away" —
And ye are brothers, Love and thou, O Spring!

The father of a million Springs art thou,
And each the father of a million flowers:
And Love and Thou ye reck not of the hours:

Drink deep, drink deep, for Love has filled the bowl,
Drink deep, drink deep, for Love has poured the wine,
And fill thy heart with ecstasy divine,
With strength of fiery passion fill thy soul,
Till round thy head obedient thunders roll,
And lightnings gird that feeble hand of thine;
The hand of Love it is that pours the wine,
The hand of Love it is that fills the bowl.

Drink deep, nor ask what follows. Yes, he comes
The grim Destroyer, he who bides his day,
And breaks the bowl, and spills the wine, and numbs

And was there light before the sun was made?
And was there love ere men and women were?
Vain questioning: — the lord of light is there,
And here, in all her loveliness arrayed,
Thy love is here before thee: — art afraid
To take the little hand that, light as air,
Can open heaven's gates to them that dare?
O coward, coward, wherefore was it stayed?

Thou saw'st the smile upon his cruel face,
Old Time the mocker. Let him mock his fill,
For when the sun has vanished from his place,
And when the loving heart is cold and still,

If life avails not, what avails an hour?
Yet see the painter, how he can combine
His tender touches and his colours fine,
And lo! before you blooms the perfect flower
Of God-like beauty — see the poet's power
In each brief word, in each compacted line,
A living soul to breathe, a face divine,
Man's breath with heaven's spirit to endower.

Of many a momentary airy note
The proud musician builds his world of song,
And on brief sound, as on a tiny boat,
Explores and masters that tremendous sea —