Page:Last Poems.djvu/27



, the Gift of Gifts, I give to thee. Pleasure and love shall spring around thy feet As through the lake the lotuses arise Pinkly transparent and divinely sweet.

I give thee eyes aglow like morning stars, Delicate brows, a mist of sable tresses, That all the journey of thy life may be Lit up by love and softened by caresses.

For those who once were proud and softly bred Shall, kneeling, wait thee as thou passest by, They who were pure shall stretch forth eager hands Crying, "Thy pity, Lord, before we die!"

And one shall murmur, "If the sun at dawn Shall open and caress a happy flower, What blame to him, although the blossom fade In the full splendour of his noontide power?"

And one, "If aloes close together grow It well may chance a plant shall wounded be, 15