When the dusky shadow flits,
    By the chimney nook I see
    Where the old enchanter sits,
    Smiles, and waves, and beckons me.

THE GREAT BREATH

    Its edges foamed with amethyst and rose,
    Withers once more the old blue flower of day: 
    There where the ether like a diamond glows
    Its petals fade away.

    A shadowy tumult stirs the dusky air;
    Sparkle the delicate dews, the distant snows;
    The great deep thrills for through it everywhere
    The breath of beauty blows.

    I saw how all the trembling ages past,
    Moulded to her by deep and deeper breath,
    Neared to the hour when Beauty breathes her last
    And knows herself in death.

THE DIVINE VISION

    This mood hath known all beauty for it sees
    O’erwhelmed majesties
    In these pale forms, and kingly crowns of gold
    On brows no longer bold,
    And through the shadowy terrors of their hell
    The love for which they fell,
    And how desire which cast them in the deep
    Called God too from his sleep. 
    O, pity, only seer, who looking through
    A heart melted like dew,
    Seest the long perished in the present thus,
    For ever dwell in us. 
    Whatever time thy golden eyelids ope
    They travel to a hope;
    Not only backward from these low degrees
    To starry dynasties,
    But, looking far where now the silence owns
    And rules from empty thrones,
    Thou seest the enchanted halls of heaven burn
    For joy at our return. 
    Thy tender kiss hath memory we are kings
    For all our wanderings. 
    Thy shining eyes already see the after
    In hidden light and laughter.

THE BURNING GLASS

    A shaft of fire that falls like dew,
    And melts and maddens all my blood,
    From out thy spirit flashes through
    The burning glass of womanhood.

    Only so far; here must I stay: 
    Nearer I miss the light, the fire: 
    I must endure the torturing ray,
    And, with all beauty, all desire.

    Ah, time-long must the effort be,
    And far the way that I must go
    To bring my spirit unto thee,
    Behind the glass, within the glow.

A VISION OF BEAUTY

    Where we sat at dawn together, while the star-rich heavens shifted,
    We were weaving dreams in silence, suddenly the veil was lifted. 
    By a hand of fire awakened, in a moment caught and led
    Upward to the wondrous vision:  through the star-mists overhead
    Flare and flaunt the monstrous highlands; on the sapphire coast of night
    Fall the ghostly froth and fringes of the ocean of the light. 
    Many coloured shine the vapours: