A Sheaf of Verses: Poems. Radclyffe Hall
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KINSHIP
Sunlight and shade,
Moorland and glade,
Evening and day,
Winter and May,
Troubadour breeze,
Amorous trees,
Pondering Hills,
Gold daffodils
Born of the Spring,
Thrushes that sing
Passionate notes
From downy throats,
Be unto me
Each one of ye
Sister or brother;
And Earth be my mother!
THE MOON'S MESSAGE
The Moon looked in at the window,
And smiled as I wrote to you,
She lay like a frail white maiden,
In shadowy folds of blue.
Her bosom was bare and tender,
And slight, for she still was young,
And down from her dainty shoulders
A mantle of starlight hung.
She wooed with a wanton ardour
The winds till they lulled to sighs,
And night was transformed with beauty,
For love of her limpid eyes.
The soul of the cloudy darkness
Awakened beneath her beams,
The sky swooned away with longing,
The Earth stirred in tender dreams.
Alas! for the moon was cruel,
Far colder than snow was she,
Her heart was a burnt-out Planet,
Her light but a fallacy:
And she looked at my open letter,
And called from her couch on high,
"Pray give my love to my Sister
Who is even more cold than I."
ON A BATTLE FIELD
Once o'er this hill whereon we stand,
Just you and I, hand clasp'd in hand
Amid the silence, and the space,
A mighty battle rent the air,
With dying curse and choking prayer;
'Mid shot and shell death stalked apace.
Is it conceivable to you—
So much at peace—because we two
Are close together, or to me?
The silent beauty of the noon
Seems like a Heaven-granted boon,
Aglow with tender ecstasy.
A little mist of hazy blue
Is slowly hiding from our view
The city's domes and slender spires,
As thro' a bridal veil the sun
Subdued and shy lights one by one
The virgin clouds with blushing fires.
The wind has fallen; very low
We hear his wings brush past, and know
He creeps away to dream and rest;
How sweet to be alone, to feel
You breathe one longing sigh, and steal
A little closer to my breast.
Is anything worth while but this?
We may not perish for a kiss,
Yet thus it were not hard to die!
War strews the earth with countless dead,
And after all is done and said,
The end is love, and you and I!
TO ——