As dreams the fasting nun of Paradise,
And finds her gnawing hunger pass away
In thinking of the happy bridal day
That soon shall dawn upon her watching eyes;
So, dreaming of your love, do I despise
Harshness or death of friends, doubt, slow decay,
Madness,—all dreads that fill me with dismay
And creep about me oft with fell surmise.
For you are true, and all I hoped you are,
O perfect answer to my calling heart!
And very sweet my life is, having thee.
Yet must I dread the dim end shrouded far;
Yet must I dream: should once the good planks start,
How bottomless yawns beneath the boiling sea!
[Illustration]
_Adam and Eve._
When Adam fell asleep in Paradise
He made himself a helpmeet as he
dreamed;
And, lo! she stood before his waking eyes,
And was the woman that his vision seemed.
She knelt beside him there in tender awe
To find the living fountain of her soul,
And so in either’s eyes the other saw
The light they missed in Heaven, and knew the goal.
Thrice-blessed Adam, husband of thine Eve!
She brought thee for her dowry death and shame;
She taught thee one may worship and deceive;
But yet thy dream and she were still the same;
Nor ever in the desert turned thine eyes
Towards Lilith by the brooks of Paradise.
[Illustration]
_Love Without Wings._
[Illustration]