He spake of love, of boundless love,-- Of love that knew no other land, Or face, or place, or anything; Of love that like the wearied dove Could light nowhere, but kept the wing Till she alone put forth her hand, And so received it in her ark From seas that shake against the dark! He clasped her hands, climbed past her knees, Forgot her hands and kissed her hair,-- The while her two hands clasped in prayer, And fair face lifted to the trees. Her proud breast heaved, her pure proud breast Rose like the waves in their unrest When counter storms possess the seas. Her mouth, her arched, uplifted mouth, Her ardent mouth that thirsted so,-- No glowing love-song of the South Can say; no man can say or know The glory there, and so live on Content without that glory gone! Her face still lifted up. And she Disdained the cup of passion he Hard pressed her panting lips to touch. She dashed it by despised, and she Caught fast her breath. She trembled much, And sudden rose full height, and stood An empress in high womanhood: She stood a tower, tall as when Proud Roman mothers suckled men Of old-time truth and taught them such. XXIX. Her soul surged vast as space is. She Was trembling as a courser when His thin flank quivers, and his feet Touch velvet on the turf, and he Is all afoam, alert, and fleet As sunlight glancing on the sea, And full of triumph before men. At last she bended some her face, Half leaned, then put him back a pace, And met his eyes. Calm, silently Her eyes looked deep into his eyes,-- As maidens down some mossy well Do peer in hope by chance to tell By image there what future lies Before them, and what face shall be The pole-star of their destiny. Pure Nature's lover! Loving him With love that made all pathways dim And difficult where he was not,-- Then marvel not at form forgot. And who shall chide? Doth priest know aught Of sign, or holy unction brought From over seas, that ever can Make man love maid or maid love man One whit the more, one bit the less, For all his mummeries to bless? Yea, all his blessing or his ban? The winds breathed warm as Araby: She leaned upon his breast, she lay A wide-winged swan with folded wing. He drowned his hot face in her hair, He heard her great heart rise and sing; He felt her bosom swell. The air Swooned sweet with perfume of her form. Her breast was warm, her breath was warm, And warm her warm and perfumed mouth As summer journeys through the South. XXX. The argent sea surged steep below, Surged languid in a tropic glow; And two great hearts kept surging so! The fervid kiss of heaven lay Precipitate on wood and sea. Two great souls glowed with ecstasy, The sea glowed scarce as warm as they. XXXI.