[2]
Last night, when some one spoke his name, [3]
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame.
Last night, when some one spoke his name, [3]
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame.
Tennyson
]
[Footnote 34: These two stanzas were added in 1842. ]
[Footnote 35: 1833.
I've half a mind to walk, my love,
To the old mill across the wolds
For look! the sunset from above,]
FATIMA
First printed in 1833.
The 1833 edition has no title but this quotation from Sappho prefixed:--
'Phainetai moi kaenos isos theoisin Emmen anaer'--SAPPHO.
The title was prefixed in 1842; it is a name taken from 'The Arabian
Nights' or from the Moallakat. The poem was evidently inspired by
Sappho's great ode. 'Cf. ' also Fragment I. of Ibycus. In the intensity
of the passion it stands alone among Tennyson's poems.
O Love, Love, Love! O withering might!
O sun, that from [1] thy noonday height
Shudderest when I strain my sight,
Throbbing thro' all thy heat and light,
Lo, falling from my constant mind,
Lo, parch'd and wither'd, deaf and blind,
I whirl like leaves in roaring wind.
Last night I wasted hateful hours
Below the city's eastern towers:
I thirsted for the brooks, the showers:
I roll'd among the tender flowers:
I crush'd them on my breast, my mouth:
I look'd athwart the burning drouth
Of that long desert to the south.
[2]
Last night, when some one spoke his name, [3]
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame.
Were shiver'd in my narrow frame
O Love, O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss, my whole soul thro'
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew. [4]
Before he mounts the hill, I know
He cometh quickly: from below
Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow
Before him, striking on my brow.
In my dry brain my spirit soon,
Down-deepening from swoon to swoon,
Faints like a dazzled morning moon.
The wind sounds like a silver wire,
And from beyond the noon a fire
Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher
The skies stoop down in their desire;
And, isled in sudden seas of light,
My heart, pierced thro' with fierce delight,
Bursts into blossom in his sight.
My whole soul waiting silently,
All naked in a sultry sky,
Droops blinded with his shining eye:
I 'will' possess him or will die.
I will grow round him in his place,
Grow, live, die looking on his face,
Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace.
[Footnote 1: 1833. At. ]
[Footnote 2: This stanza was added in 1842. ]
[Footnote 3: 'Cf. ' Byron, 'Occasional Pieces':--
They name thee before me A knell to mine ear, A shudder comes o'er me,
Why wert thou so dear? ]
[Footnote 4: 'Cf,' Achilles Tatius, 'Clitophon and Leucippe', bk. i. , I:
[Greek: 'AEde (psyche) tarachtheisa tps philaemati palletai, ei de
mae tois splagchnois in dedemenae aekolouthaesen an elkaetheisa ano tois
philaemasin.
[Footnote 34: These two stanzas were added in 1842. ]
[Footnote 35: 1833.
I've half a mind to walk, my love,
To the old mill across the wolds
For look! the sunset from above,]
FATIMA
First printed in 1833.
The 1833 edition has no title but this quotation from Sappho prefixed:--
'Phainetai moi kaenos isos theoisin Emmen anaer'--SAPPHO.
The title was prefixed in 1842; it is a name taken from 'The Arabian
Nights' or from the Moallakat. The poem was evidently inspired by
Sappho's great ode. 'Cf. ' also Fragment I. of Ibycus. In the intensity
of the passion it stands alone among Tennyson's poems.
O Love, Love, Love! O withering might!
O sun, that from [1] thy noonday height
Shudderest when I strain my sight,
Throbbing thro' all thy heat and light,
Lo, falling from my constant mind,
Lo, parch'd and wither'd, deaf and blind,
I whirl like leaves in roaring wind.
Last night I wasted hateful hours
Below the city's eastern towers:
I thirsted for the brooks, the showers:
I roll'd among the tender flowers:
I crush'd them on my breast, my mouth:
I look'd athwart the burning drouth
Of that long desert to the south.
[2]
Last night, when some one spoke his name, [3]
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame.
Were shiver'd in my narrow frame
O Love, O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss, my whole soul thro'
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew. [4]
Before he mounts the hill, I know
He cometh quickly: from below
Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow
Before him, striking on my brow.
In my dry brain my spirit soon,
Down-deepening from swoon to swoon,
Faints like a dazzled morning moon.
The wind sounds like a silver wire,
And from beyond the noon a fire
Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher
The skies stoop down in their desire;
And, isled in sudden seas of light,
My heart, pierced thro' with fierce delight,
Bursts into blossom in his sight.
My whole soul waiting silently,
All naked in a sultry sky,
Droops blinded with his shining eye:
I 'will' possess him or will die.
I will grow round him in his place,
Grow, live, die looking on his face,
Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace.
[Footnote 1: 1833. At. ]
[Footnote 2: This stanza was added in 1842. ]
[Footnote 3: 'Cf. ' Byron, 'Occasional Pieces':--
They name thee before me A knell to mine ear, A shudder comes o'er me,
Why wert thou so dear? ]
[Footnote 4: 'Cf,' Achilles Tatius, 'Clitophon and Leucippe', bk. i. , I:
[Greek: 'AEde (psyche) tarachtheisa tps philaemati palletai, ei de
mae tois splagchnois in dedemenae aekolouthaesen an elkaetheisa ano tois
philaemasin.
