A Woman of Thirty Part 2

I walk the bridge of hours from dawn till night My heart beating so loud in joyous wonder To know your love, that I can scarcely breathe; But in the lonely darkness, with affright I faintly hear, like ominous, distant thunder The unseen ocean surging close beneath.

Our bridge so frail, eternity so vast!

When we must sink into the deep at last Heart of my heart, will you still hold me fast?

A Temple

I. DOORWAY

Carven angels On the portals, Angels with crowns, and eagles And golden lions On the door.

This is why The alien wors.h.i.+ppers went their way, Why you alone discovered The gates were open.

You touched the velvet curtains behind them, They parted to let you pa.s.s.

II. WINDOW

I make a window Of you, beloved, Through which the sun colours The silence.

Even your absences Are s.p.a.ces I have filled With sapphire;

Your denials Are burning gold, I have painted your reluctance Emerald green:

Your silences Are crimson On which your words make delicate Black tracery.

As for me, My will is the grey lead Which I have bent to hold the coloured Panes of you.

III. SPIRE

My wish goes singing upward Holding a chime of bells In its heart:

Pigeons know my silent bells, Winds touch them and wonder.

That they might reach That high blue--

Till star fingers touch them Ever so gently--

And drifting clouds Lay cool cheeks against them--

My wish goes singing upward Reaching into silence.

IV. PRIEDIEU

Beauty pa.s.ses But dust is eternal.

Outside the temple Beauty dies in the wind.

So when my temple is fallen And lies in dust, Where then will be the memory Of your beauty?

I pray my dust That it may hold your image Tomorrow and for ever.

V. FESTIVAL

The beloved is returning, Let the bells ring!

I too am a tower Hung with bronze bells,

I too am a bell Chiming to the winds,

I too am the wind Ringing to the hills,

I too am the hills Singing to the sky.

I too am the sky!

The beloved is returning, Let the bells ring!

VI. DUSK

There is no soul too poor to build a temple Where it may go apart And wors.h.i.+p darkness.

For out of darkness Images s.h.i.+ne... and fade...

Since now there is no wors.h.i.+p nor any music, Let incense be a curved smile On lips that remember, And candles, notes of laughter In empty dusk.

Above, A coloured window slowly turns Black to the night.

VII. RUINS

Temples have fallen Before today, Stones are ever loosening their hold One on another...

You blocks of marble, sleeping in the sun, Can you remember chiming bells And incense?

Now there is only silence, Even the winged stones of archways Sleep in peace.

Candles

Silence is but the golden frame That holds your face, My thoughts, like unblown candle-flame In a holy place Surround you. From this secret shrine Somewhere apart Do you not feel my candles s.h.i.+ne Upon your heart?

Winter Night

The I that does not love you I have kept hidden away In the dark.

(I never dreamed There was a You That does not love me!)

Tonight they met.

I hear their words Falling like icicles Upon me...

I am frozen in terror...

Have they killed the You That Loves me?