Tower of Ivory/Ballade
BALLADE
"A pilgrim cowled in light is love,
Who kneels at many shrines and prays."
So sang I knowing naught thereof.
"He kneels beside the thronging ways
And ever in the dust he lays
His reverent soul at Mary's feet
Beneath her all-caressing gaze.
For only dreams of love are sweet."
"And lo, a pagan god is love,
His shining head bound round with bays."
So sang I knowing nought thereof.
"He breathes the breath of burning Mays
Plucking from Autumn's lap of days
Gold fruits of life to crush and eat,
Yet lustful are his lips always,
For only dreams of love are sweet."
But last I learned the truth of love,
That carnal love the world obeys.
'Tis but a web which Gaea wove
With warp of pain and weft of days,
Where vast, insensate, o'er the haze
Of mortal dreams she has her seat,—
A web to catch whom soon she slays.
For only dreams of love are sweet.
Envoy
The shadows in the windy wheat,
And throstle notes than roundelays.
For only dreams of love are sweet.