Spring is not here. But spring is in this heart, Quick with the blowing buds of lovely mirth And over-brimmed with love taken and given When that is withered, let us lie apart And rock like sleeping babes in cradle of earth, Dearest, till Doomsday: we have had our heaven. “LOCAL FATALITIES ARE REPORTED” Dangerously sheltered they, The lovers lay Upon the great dead hill, Frail flesh and blood: Beneath a twisted thorn, Which to the heaven’s mood Died and was born Again, as lightning fell. Two mites of trembling clay-- Ah, what cared they! The lightning flashed: They laughed. The thunder crashed: They kissed. The grey rain lashed The hill: and hid them in mist. Did they return again To the sunny plain, To spite and scorn, The plane of mortal care? Nay, with passions of skies They mingled were ... They were made wise Beneath the twisted thorn. MY JOY In your impassioned loveliness I drink a wine no heel did press In vats of place or time or space, And gazing on your April face And in your dim green-shadowed eyes I glimpse green leaves of a great vine Whose roots are firm in Paradise: And you the cup and you the wine. THE WATCHING MOON Calm with the calm Of all old Earth has taken To her peaceful breast, And will not awaken; Pale with the passion Of Life that never dies; You sit there watching us With clear bright eyes. HARVEST HOME My heart is filled with you As a field tilled which grew But couch and weed; You are my cornfield spread, Ripe to be harvested For bitter need. You have built barns in my heart, You have become a part Of all I knew: Wherefore I dance and sing And fear not anything Sharp scythes may do. _POEMS OF REFLECTION_ EXPERIMENTS IN VERS LIBRE I Not curled into rose leaves Or twisted into fantastic patterns of beauty ... Out of my joy in the Earth, Out of my sorrow for men, Out of the love which I bore to one and another Come these rough nuggets. Take them--they are all I can give you! Take, and make of them whatsoever you will, You who have skill, And you also who have none. Hold them in sunlight and moonlight Till they shine back, Ponder also the dark Earth wherefrom they came! II He who lies dead was my father. Degradation has befallen his flesh. Why? O, why? The palace is fouled. The king insulted, crucified, and abandoned. The slaves have fled. And so, after certain days, you And I too shall lie. The pride Shall pass. Our mouths shall never kiss Nor our strong arms embrace ... We too, we too shall die. III Lust spoils the sunlight And narrows the day; Love widens Time to Eternity which alone can hold it! THE PHILOSOPHER VISITS THE NIGHT CLUB