Last Lines of Madison Julius Cawein
A portion of its pages!An epitaph, only the stars can read.And all the lovely Myths thereof.And drink the magic of her dreams.And eager hands again.And his, who loves her so!And now a bare-foot truant and his dog.And one is Love, whose other name is Death.And say the words oft said!And see his dead self pass.And still allures me in a thousand forms.And the mere's and mine is the story.And the near world a figment of her dreams.And the world would be richer one poet the more.Behold the wild Valkyries of the storm.Behold, I seem, and am no more a man.Bending above an unreal harpsichord.Bids her prepare her gentle soul to die.Clad on with sleep and memory.Do you remember? -- Bid your soul be still.Downward she goes with never lifted eyes.Dreaming in a world between.Each bush with bloom, in snow commemorative.Earth shaped the fragrant purity of this flower.Emotions -- that be flowers -- born of such.Enchantment keeps.God doth address th' immortal soul of Man.God's sweet unrest of love!Have blessed you unawares!He reads, is sorrow and sin.Hearing thy heart beat through the myriad miles.Heart of my heart, be comforted.I met her ghost upon the bridge we parted at last year.I might forget, I might forget, and rest!I said
That God would let me die!If still ye have youth!In hesitant hands Death's partly-opened book.In the hush of the heavens sweep near.Is fragrant with the dreams of love.Let him be laid.Like a drowned face, a blur beneath the ice.Like some drenched truant, cower.Love, of whose self was wrought the universe!Making her spirit's dream materialize.My loss to me.My own self digging my soul a grave.My watch by you, white violets in your hair.Nearer and nearer to the death that waits.Neglect, with mossy hand, obliterates.Never for me!No certain shape, no certain countenance.Oblivious of renown!Of silence as a sound -- from sleep awake.Of Time beat out the seconds, one by one.On the quarry hill with its one gnarled tree.Once gazed the eyes of God.Only the wind and storm.Only to lead us captives to Despair.Over her stone.Part of the myths that I pursue in vain.Passed, and left all black again.Preaching th' evangels of the stars and flowers.Remembers but can not tell?Rumble the bridge like some deep throat of song.Scolding at windows and at doors tight-shut.Singing she goes with the calm face of Ruth.Sits beside thee where forgot dost rest thee.Sleeps, and the night is hushed around?So let it be.So love and I might look on her.Spake, smiling, of the lowly.Strike, and his countenance become a skull.Sweet Song, who passed me by.The care-dark way of time!The dead-sea fruit of Life's remembered joys.The earth and sky grow dream-accessories.The form of her entombed.The songs we sang when roving beneath the summer moon.The stormy story of the fall of Troy.The way of hate that led to love.The wild leaves sigh i' the way.The world and aye compels.Then smite her dead -- and die.This I know.To hang it moonlike 'mid the starry rest.To rest! to rest!To something yet to be.Took place the marriage of our souls.True love shall live forever, love.Unstudied Poesy.Vague light of sleep's one fitful star.Vesting his thoughts with that it comprehends.Watching the leaves drift down.We'll soon be out of the troubles!What God intends be changed by man?Where all her youth reposes!Where spirit once could not!While buxom wenches are and stoops of sack.Who, with blue eyes, set the wild world on fire.Whom Earth no more reveals.Whose silence says too much, too much!With all the old-time loveliness again.With burning eyes, gaunt with the glow of Hell?With Death's dumb face, too late, to see and know.With eyes of Jael watching till he sleep.With love that shall destroy you.With the iron of some black thought.With you.