[Editor: This poem by Menie Parkes was published in Poems (1867).]
Love’s Images.
Like to a pale star on the front
Of a storm-clouded heaven,
Thou art to me, beloved!
As beautiful, as distant far,
From my impassioned grasp,
Thy pale-browed panoply, beloved!
I’ll bribe the lark at an early hour
To fasten a cord on thy steadiest tower,
And so I will climb to thee, beloved!
Like to a lily that looks for the sun,
From the face of a sombre green lake,
Thou art to me, beloved!
As still, as radiant, as passing rare
In the pomp of thy lonely state,
As far out of reach of me, beloved!
But the moody waves from my course shall part,
I will clasp thee, in rapture, white flower, to my heart.
And thou shalt be all to me, beloved!
Like to a dove on the topmost branch
Of the tallest forest tree,
Thou art to me, beloved!
As pure and guileless and holy thou,
As wrapt in thine own sweet dreams
And just as careless of me, beloved!
But step by step I will climb that tree,
And step by step I shall reach to thee,
And clasp thee for ever to me, beloved!
The cord which I stretch thro’ the space thee
Shall be the love of a constant heart,
Thou fairest of stars to me, beloved!
And the pleading love of a tender heart
Shall cleave the rough waves between
Thy fate and mine, my lily-beloved!
And the leash that I cast thy white spirit over
Shall be the strong love of a strong true lover,
My own dove, my best-beloved!
Source:
Menie Parkes, Poems, F. Cunninghame, Sydney, [1867], pages 45-46
Leave a Reply