The Brightness

Away, away--     Through that strange void and vast     Brimmed with dying day;     Away,     So that I feel     Only the wind     Of the world's swift-rolling wheel.     See what a maze     Of whirling rays!     The sharp wind     Weakens; the air     Is but thin air,     Not fume and flying fire....     O, heart's desire,     Now thou art still     And the air chill.     And but a stem     Of clear cold light     Shines in this stony dark.     Farewell, world of sense,     Too fair, too fair     To be so false!     Hence, hence     Rosy memories,     Delight of ears, hands, eyes.     Rise     When I bid, O thou     Tide of the dark,     Whelming the pale last,     Reflection of that vast     Too-fair deceit.     Ah, sweet     To miss the vexing heat     Of the heart's desire:     Only to know     All's lost, lost....     Sweet     To know the lack of sweet.     --Thou fool!     See how the steady dark     Is filled with eyes--     Eyes that smile,     Hot, then how cool!     Eyes that were stars till thou     Mad'st them eyes.     O, the tormenting     Look, the unrelenting     Passionate kiss     Of their wild light on thine--     Light of thine eyes!     As if one could     Loathe the world for too much sweetness!     All the air's a flame,     Wonderful--yet the same     Thou'st hated,     Being briefly sated     With sweet of sweetness.     Forgive a heart whose madness     Was not of madness born,     But of mere wild     Waste of desire....     Who does not know     One speaks so, or so,     Out of mere passion     That sees not love     From hate, nor life from death,     Nor hell from heaven?     In the East--oh, that flashed     Brightness, past     The loveliness even     Of sunset's flush!