Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/45



"Her hair around my neck, so that it fell Upon my red robe, strange in the twilight With many unnamed colours, till the bell Of her mouth on my cheek sent a delight

"Through all my ways of being; like the stroke Wherewith God threw all men upon the face When he took Enoch, and when Enoch woke With a changed body in the happy place.

"Once, I remember, as I sat beside, She turn'd a little, and laid back her head, And slept upon my breast: I almost died In those night-watches with my love and dread,

"There lily-like she bow'd her head and slept, And I breathed low, and did not dare to move, But sat and quiver'd inwardly, thoughts crept, And frighten'd me with pulses of my Love.

"The stars shone out above the doubtful green Of her boddice, in the green sky overhead; Pale in the green sky were the stars I ween, Because the moon shone like a star she shed

"When she dwelt up in heaven a while ago, And ruled all things but God: the night went on, The wind grew cold, and the white moon grew low, One hand had fallen down, and now lay on

"My cold stiff palm; there were no colours then For near an hour, and I fell asleep In spite of all my striving, even when I held her whose name-letters make me leap.