The love a life can show
Below,
Is but a filament, I know,
Of that diviner thing
That faints upon the face
Of noon
And smites the tinder in
The sun,
And hinders Gabriel’s wing.
‘Tis this in music hints
And sways,
And far abroad on
Summer days
Distills uncertain pain.
‘Tis this enamors in
The East,
And tints the transit in
The West
With harrowing iodine.
‘Tis this invites, appalls,
Endows,
Flits, glimmers, proves,
Dissolves,
Returns, suggests, convicts,
Enchants—
Then flings in
Paradise!
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