Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/150

114 III

THE CELESTIAL LOVE

God said,

I will have a purer gift;

There is smoke in the flame;

New flowerets bring, new prayers uplift,

And love without a name.

Fond children, ye desire

To please each other well;

Another round, a higher,

Ye shall climb on the heavenly stair,

And selfish preference forbear;

And in right deserving,

And without a swerving

Each from your proper state,

Weave roses for your mate.

Deep, deep are loving eyes,

Flowed with naphtha fiery sweet;

And the point is paradise,

Where their glances meet:

Their reach shall yet be more profound,

And a vision without bound:

The axis of those eyes sun-clear

Be the axis of the sphere: