No More Learning

OF GRACE
(BALLATA, FRAGMENT) ii
FPULL well thou knowest, song, what grace I mean,
E'en as thou know'st the sunlight I have lost.
Thou knowest the way of it and know'st the sheen About her brows where the rays are bound and
crossed,
E'en as thou knowest joy and know'st joy's bitter
cost.
Thou know'st her grace in moving, Thou dost her skill in loving,
Thou know'st what truth she proveth, Thou knowest the heart she moveth, O song where grief assoneth !
CANZON: THE VISION
The form is that of Arnault Daniel's "Sols suique sailo sobra- fan quern sortz. "
WHENfirst I saw thee 'neath the silver mist,
Ruling thy bark of painted sandal-wood, Didanyknowthee? Bythegoldensails
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? That clasped the ribbands of that azure sea,
Did any know thee save my heart alone?
O ivory woman with thy bands of gold,
Answer the song my luth and I have brought thee !
n
Dream over golden dream that secret cist,
Thy heart, O heart of me, doth hold, and mood
On mood of silver, when the day's light fails,
Say who hath touched the secret heart of thee,
Or who hath known what my heart hath not
known !
O slender pilot whom the mists enfold,
Answer the song my luth and I have wrought thee !
m
When new love plucks the falcon from his wrist, And cuts the gyve and casts the scarlet hood, Where is the heron heart whom flight avails? O quick to prize me Love, how suddenly From out the tumult truth hath ta'en his own, And in this vision is our past unrolled.
Lo ! With a hawk of light thy love hath caught me.
IV
And I shall get no peace from eucharist,
Nor doling out strange prayers before the rood, To match the peace that thine hands' touch entails;
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Canzon : Nor doth God's light match light shed over me The rltfflftwjgga thy caught sunlight is about me thrown,
Oh, for the very ruth thine eyes have told, Answer the rune this love of thee hath taught me.
After an age of longing had we missed
Our meeting and the dream, what were the good Ofweavingclothofwords? Werejeweledtales An opiate meet to quell the malady Oflifeunlived? Inuntriedmonotone
Were not the earth as vain, and dry, and old, For thee, O Perfect Light, had I not sought thee?
VI
Calais, in song where word and tone keep tryst Behold my heart, and hear mine hardihood ! Calais, the wind is come and heaven pales And trembles for the love of day to be.
Calais, the words break and the dawn is shown.
Ah, but the stars set when thou wast first bold,
Turn! lest they say a lesser light distraught thee.
VTI
O ivory thou, the golden scythe hath mown Night'sstubbleandmyjoy. Ah,royalsouled, Favour the quest ! Lo, Truth and I have sought
thee !
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? TO OUR LADY OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT (BALLATA)
i
WHOare you that the whole world's song
Is shaken out beneath feet your
Leaving you comfortless, Who, that, as wheat
Is garnered, gather in The blades of man's sin And bear that sheaf?
Lady of wrong and grief, Blameless !
All souls beneath the gloom That pass with little flames, All these till time be run Pass one by one
As Christs to save, and die ;
What wrong one sowed, Behold, another reaps!