“I.
FOLD back the sun-bright hair; kiss the meek lids,
That lie like flowers above the flower-blue eyes;
Grieve not, to grieve her with thy anguished sighs:
Such peace as Christ bath given her forbids
Even the storm of woe to rage, and rids
Fierce Death of half his terrors. In such wise
Sleep doth appear ere Love hath said, “”Arise!””
Or Love lies quiet while that fair Joy bids.
Sweet Soul, praised be thy God that I am left
To bear this anguish in thy dear heart’s stead;
That thou art happy, while I am bereft;
That I, not thou, kneel by our desolate bed,
And know Life’s sword hath stahbed me to the heft
Knowing that I do live, and thou art dead.
II.
Ah me! thy child! How can I love thy child,
Which hath begun its life by taking thine?
And yet it was thine own, and thine is mine
Therefore it is mine too. Oh God! the wild,
Mad, helpless yearning to lay down this mild,
Pale winter flower among the flowers that shine
Like stars about thee, while Love, grown divine,
Omnipotent, unquestioned, undefiled,
Bids Death exchange, and let thee live again!
Nay, I want not thy child; I thirst for thee,
As thirst the summer meadows for the rain,
As longs the main-land for the tarrying sea,
As stricken souls do yearn for bodily pain.
Oh, God in heaven! must such anguish be?
III
Alas! alas! God will not let thee hear,
To grieve in heaven for my bitterness;
Nor would I have thee listen, to confess
God loves thee more than I. Ah, have no fear;
My sorrow cannot touch thee. I am here,
And thou art where no love can harm, or bless,
Or reach, or move thee. Let me keep one tress,
To rest where thy head rested one fair year.
It is not much to ask of thee, 0 sweet,
Who hast for love of me given thy bright life.
Such kisses as had made thy pure heart beat
But yesterday still leave thee stone, my wife.
Farewell, dear brow, dear month, dear hands, dear feet!
Thine is the freedom; mine, the fire, the knife.
IV.
Yet was it wonderful, when all is said,
Heaven should desire thee? Nay; for thou wert far
Above most women as God’s handmaids are;
Thy soul as flowers that bloom when day is fled;
Thy purity as crown upon thy head;
in all things lovely. There was naught to mar
The jewel of thy nature, while a star
Seemed thy sweet, steadfast love. Now, being dead,
Thou, star – like, love – like, seekest heaven, while I
Seem cast from heaven, like Satan, into hell.
0 darling, ask thy God to let me die-
Thou who canst plead so nobly and so well.
It shall be borne, so rest come by-and-by.
Thou canst not answer? Then, once more, farewell!
V.
Sweet eyes, farewell; cold bosom, fare thee well;
Farewell all joy, all love, all hope, all peace.
Welcome, fierce pain, till Death do bid ye cease.
Farewell, content. My bride, my wife, fare- well.
O mother of my child! Oh hell in hell,
For which High God Himself bath no surcease,
No straws of comfort such as gleaners lease
From fields already harvested! This knell
Rings ever in mine ears. “”She gave her life
In giving thee thy child.’ What care had I,
So that my rose bloomed on, if that Death’s knife
Pruned each bud as it blossomed? Is to die
To love no more, 0 exquisite, pale wife,
Or only to be deaf unto Love’s cry?
VI.
Dear Love, I have grown selfish with this woe.
I would that thou couldst hear, to comfort me;
That some way thou couhdst answer, just to be
One heart-beat conscious of thy answer. Lo!
I hear a voice like wandering winds that blow
At eventide above a restless sea!
Hast thou come back from heaven to set me free?
Dost thou still love me? Hath God let thee know?
Thus spake her soul unto my listening soul:
“”Peace, peace, beloved! Love can never die,
Though hearts that loved be dust. Should ages roll
Between the present and the future, I
Will hold thee more mine own than ere this dole
Smote us like lightning from a cloudless sky.
VII.
“”Nor, being God’s, am I less thine, my own;
Nor have I gone forever. Time will pass
As fleet as April wind across young grass.
And we will make Eternity our throne-
We two, forever loving, and alone,
Save for God’s handmaid Joy, and that sweet lass-
Like to me as mine image in a glass-
That I did leave with thee, our only one,
Our little daughter. Love her for my sake;
Yea, doubly, since she may not know my love.
Now on thy heart she rests like the first flake
Of snow upon a pollard tree; a dove
She will seem by-and-by; and welcome make
Her nest in that cold heart, while, from above,
VIII.
“”I, being by God permitted, will behold,
And for thy joy wax gladder even here.
Yea, love her without dross or measure, dear.
Give her thy grief-tried nature’s purest gold.
Let even thy winter pain warm her with cold,
As snow doth warm a flower, till without fear
She blooms into the radiance of the year-
Into the sunlight of thy peace; then hold
And cherish her as thou didst cherish me.
In truth, I leave her with thee as a pledge
That I am still thy wife, though gone from thee:
As for a space May lingers, while the sedge
Yearns for her birds that skim the darkling sea,
And mournful whispers haunt the river’s edge.
IX.
“”Thus love, like Spring, shall some day come again-
Our love made patient by this present grief,
Our love grown nobler through a grand belief,
Grown perfect, as are noble souls through pain.
Think not, 0 darling, this thy grief is vain,
Or that all hope must sink upon this reef.
Nay, as a weary gleaner clasps his sheaf,
Clasp thou these blades of faith with might and main.
For it is best-I tell thee it is best;
I, knowing, tell thee. Dear, have faith; be strong;
Take up this cross of living with a zest;
Help others in their woe; make right of wrong.
So shalt thou, glad at last, lie down to rest,
And thy free soul soar upward like a song.””
X.
So be it, then, beloved. I can bear all,
Knowing that thou art only gone a space;
That some day I shall look upon thy face,
And grief be lifted from me like a pall.
God, who bath let thee answer my mad call,
Hath shown me mercy past belief. His grace
And comfort, at all times, in every place,
I do petition, therefore, lest I fall,
Borne down by mine own spirit. Dearest, sleep;
Sleep till my soul doth bid thy soul awake.
Dream I am happy. Know not that I weep.
Rest utterly; and I, for thy sweet sake,
Will try to live as thou didst, that the deep
Of death may bear me to thee, as a lake
XI.
Doth bear a shattered vessel to the shore.
Yea, sleep, my darling, and may blessed dreams
Make for thee life of death. To me all seems
A conscious death disturbed by life’s fierce roar,
A torture and a burden evermore.
Existence’ ocean hath for me no gleams
Such as greet other men beneath the beams
Of hope’s fair sunrise. All that went before:
Like a bright bird that heralds some proud ship,
With sunlight on its breast and on its wings.
Now Sorrow, following on black clouds that dip
Unto the blacker billows, with her brings
Despair and Loss, like lovers lip to lip,
And smites the blithe bird even while he sings.
XII.
But I will try to live as thou hast said-
To bear this burden bravely, as a man
Should bear all burdens. Yea, I will and can
Grow worthier of thee, 0 most precious dead,
And forcing back such tears as are unshed,
Remember that dark life is but a span,
While bright love is eternal. Lo! the plan
On which all systems move, what man bath read?
Being thus ignorant, what man would dare
To change one line an atom-were the power
Bestowed upon him-or to move one hair
The littlest sphere? Hath any seen a flower
Bepaint her tender leaves, or learned the fair,
Exquisite secret of the Spring? The hour
XIII.
Hath come when grief-tried faith must live or die,
And hope be slain or cherished. Most dread God,
Being her God, Thou shalt be mine. Thy rod
I wordless will endure, that by-and-by,
Hearkening unto my spirit’s utmost cry,
Thou wilt grant that I tread where she hath trod,
Leaving this anguish underneath the sod
Which shall o’erspread our bodies, while on high
Her soul shall be as wife unto my soul.
Darling, once more, farewell! I will do all
That thou hast asked, and more. These bells that toll
Thy body’s death, lifting the awful pall
Of doubt from my quick spirit, make it whole,
And faith shall answer when thy God doth call.
Amelie Rives
(Amelie Rives)”
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, Sadness Poems, Time Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Soul Poems, Nature Poems, War & Peace Poems, Faces PoemsBased on Keywords: seekest, littlest, rives, gleaner, harvested, gleaners, unquestioned, pruned, handmaids, tarrying, pollard