WITH EPIPSYCHIDION
421
Which those poor slaves with weary footsteps tread
Who travel to their home among the dead
By the broad highway of the world—and so
With one sad friend, and many a jealous foe, 15
The dreariest and the longest journey go.
Who travel to their home among the dead
By the broad highway of the world—and so
With one sad friend, and many a jealous foe, 15
The dreariest and the longest journey go.
Free love has this, different from gold and clay,
That to divide is not to take away.
Like ocean, which the general north wind breaks
Into ten thousand waves, and each one makes 20
A mirror of the moon—like some great glass,
Which did distort whatever form might pass,
Dashed into fragments by a playful child,
Which then reflects its eyes and forehead mild;
Giving for one, which it could ne'er express, 25
A thousand images of loveliness.
That to divide is not to take away.
Like ocean, which the general north wind breaks
Into ten thousand waves, and each one makes 20
A mirror of the moon—like some great glass,
Which did distort whatever form might pass,
Dashed into fragments by a playful child,
Which then reflects its eyes and forehead mild;
Giving for one, which it could ne'er express, 25
A thousand images of loveliness.
If I were one whom the loud world held wise,
I should disdain to quote authorities
In commendation of this kind of love:—
Why there is first the God in heaven above, 30
Who wrote a book called Nature, 'tis to be
Reviewed, I hear, in the next Quarterly;
And Socrates, the Jesus Christ of Greece,
And Jesus Christ Himself, did never cease
To urge all living things to love each other, 35
And to forgive their mutual faults, and smother
The Devil of disunion in their souls.
•••••••
I love you!—Listen, O embodied Ray
Of the great Brightness; I must pass away
While you remain, and these light words must be 40
Tokens by which you may remember me.
Start not—the thing you are is unbetrayed,
If you are human, and if but the shade
Of some sublimer spirit . . . .
•••••••
And as to friend or mistress, 'tis a form; 45
Perhaps I wish you were one. Some declare
You a familiar spirit, as you are;
Others with amore inhuman
Hint that, though not my wife, you are a woman;
What is the colour of your eyes and hair? 50
Why, if you were a lady, it were fair
The world should know—but, as I am afraid,
The[1] Quarterly would bait you if betrayed;
And if, as[2] it will be sport to see them stumble
Over all sorts of scandals, hear them mumble 55
I should disdain to quote authorities
In commendation of this kind of love:—
Why there is first the God in heaven above, 30
Who wrote a book called Nature, 'tis to be
Reviewed, I hear, in the next Quarterly;
And Socrates, the Jesus Christ of Greece,
And Jesus Christ Himself, did never cease
To urge all living things to love each other, 35
And to forgive their mutual faults, and smother
The Devil of disunion in their souls.
•••••••
I love you!—Listen, O embodied Ray
Of the great Brightness; I must pass away
While you remain, and these light words must be 40
Tokens by which you may remember me.
Start not—the thing you are is unbetrayed,
If you are human, and if but the shade
Of some sublimer spirit . . . .
•••••••
And as to friend or mistress, 'tis a form; 45
Perhaps I wish you were one. Some declare
You a familiar spirit, as you are;
Others with amore inhuman
Hint that, though not my wife, you are a woman;
What is the colour of your eyes and hair? 50
Why, if you were a lady, it were fair
The world should know—but, as I am afraid,
The[1] Quarterly would bait you if betrayed;
And if, as[2] it will be sport to see them stumble
Over all sorts of scandals, hear them mumble 55
