Page:Aurora Leigh a Poem.djvu/404

Rh And straight outreaches all things. What he said, I fain would write. But if an angel spoke In thunder, should we, haply, know much more Than that it thundered? If a cloud came down And wrapt us wholly, could we draw its shape, As if on the outside, and not overcome? And so he spake. His breath against my face Confused his words, yet made them more intense,— As when the sudden finger of the wind Will wipe a row of single city-lamps To a pure white line of flame, more luminous Because of obliteration; more intense The intimate presence carrying in itself Complete communication, as with souls Who, having put the body off, perceive Through simply being. Thus, ’twas granted me To know he loved me to the depth and height Of such large natures, ever competent With grand horizons by the land or sea, To love’s grand sunrise. Small spheres hold small fires: But he loved largely, as a man can love Who, baffled in his love, dares live his life, Accept the ends which God loves, for his own, And life a constant aspect. From the day I had brought to England my poor searching face, (An orphan even of my father’s grave) He had loved me, watched me, watched his soul in mine, Which in me grew and heightened into love.