The air that once I knew Whispered celestial things; I weep who hear no more Upward and rushing wings. THE WITCH When I was a girl by Nilus stream I watched the desert stars arise; My lover, he who dreamed the Sphinx, Learned all his dreaming from my eyes. I bore in Greece a burning name, And I have been in Italy Madonna to a painter-lad, And mistress to a Medici. And have you heard (and I have heard) Of puzzled men with decorous mien, Who judged--The wench knows far too much-- And hanged her on the Salem green? CRY OF THE NYMPH TO EROS Hear thou my lamentatïon, Eros, Aphrodite's son! My heart is broken and my days are done. Where the woods are dark and the stream runs clear in the dark, Eros! I prayed to thy mother and planted the seeds of her flowers, And smiled at the planting and wept at the planting. Oh, violets Ye are dead and your whiteness, your sweetness, availed not. Thy mother Is cruel. Her flowers lie dead at the steps of her altar, Eros! Eros! With a shining like silver they cut through the blue of the sky Eros! The dove's wings, the white doves I brought to thy mother in worship; And I said, she will laugh for joy of my doves. Oh, stillness Of dead wings. She laughed not nor looked. My doves are dead, Are dead at the steps of her altar. Thy mother is cruel Eros! Eros! Hear thou my lamentatïon, Eros, Aphrodite's son! My heart is broken and my days are done. CRADLE-SONG Madonna, Madonna, Sat by the grey road-side, Saint Joseph her beside, And Our Lord at her breast; Oh they were fain to rest, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, All by the grey road-side. She said, Madonna Mary, "I am hungry, Joseph, and weary, All in the desert wide." Then bent a tall palm-tree Its branches low to her knee; "Behold," the palm-tree said, "My fruit that shall be your bread." So were they satisfied, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, All by the grey road-side. From Herod they were fled Over the desert wide, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, In Egypt to abide: Mary and Joseph and Jesus, In Egypt to abide. The blessèd Queen of Heaven Her own dear Son hath given For my son's sake; his sleep Is safe and sweet and deep. Lully . . . Lulley. . . . So may you sleep alway, My baby, my dear son: Amen, Amen, Amen. My baby, my dear son. TO MAN WHO GOES SEEKING IMMORTALITY, BIDDING HIM LOOK NEARER HOME Too far afield thy search. Nay, turn. Nay, turn. At thine own elbow potent Memory stands, Thy double, and eternity is cupped In the pale hollow of those ghostly hands. THE LONELY DEATH In the cold I will rise, I will bathe In waters of ice; myself Will shiver, and shrive myself, Alone in the dawn, and anoint Forehead and feet and hands; I will shutter the windows from light, I will place in their sockets the four Tall candles and set them a-flame In the grey of the dawn; and myself Will lay myself straight in my bed, And draw the sheet under my chin. LO, ALL THE WAY