My face I buried there. I pray --
So far from her to-night --

For grace, to dream I kiss her soul
Amid the black and white.

Eden in Winter
[Supposed to be chanted to some rude instrument at a modern fireplace]

Chant we the story now
Tho' in a house we sleep;

Tho' by a hearth of coals
Vigil to-night we keep.

Chant we the story now,
Of the vague love we knew

When I from out the sea
Rose to the feet of you.

Bird from the cliffs you came,
Flew thro' the snow to me,

Facing the icy blast
There by the icy sea.

How did I reach your feet?
Why should I -- at the end

Hold out half-frozen hands
Dumbly to you my friend?

Ne'er had I woman seen,
Ne'er had I seen a flame.

There you piled fagots on,
Heat rose -- the blast to tame.

There by the cave-door dark,
Comforting me you cried --

Wailed o'er my wounded knee,
Wept for my rock-torn side.

Up from the South I trailed --
Left regions fierce and fair!

Left all the jungle-trees,
Left the red tiger's lair.

Dream led, I scarce knew why,
Into your North I trod --

Ne'er had I known the snow,
Or the frost-blasted sod.

O how the flakes came down!
O how the fire burned high!

Strange thing to see he was,
Thro' his dry twigs would fly,

Creep there awhile and sleep --
Then wake and bark for fight --

Biting if I too near
Came to his eye so bright.

Then with a will you fed
Wood to his hungry tongue.

Then he did leap and sing --
Dancing the clouds among,

Turning the night to noon,
Stinging my eyes with light,

Making the snow retreat,
Making the cave-house bright.

There were dry fagots piled,
Nuts and dry leaves and roots,

Stores there of furs and hides,
Sweet-barks and grains and fruits.

There wrapped in fur we lay,
Half-burned, half-frozen still --

Ne'er will my soul forget
All the night's bitter chill.

We had not learned to speak,
I was to you a strange

Wolfling or wounded fawn,
Lost from his forest-range.

Thirsting for bloody meat,
Out at the dawn we went.

Weighed with our prey at eve,
Home-came we all forespent.

Comrades and hunters tried
Ere we were maid and man --

Not till the spring awoke
Laughter and speech began.

Whining like forest dogs,
Rustling like budding trees,

Bubbling like thawing springs,
Humming like little bees,

Crooning like Maytime tides,
Chattering parrot words,

Crying the panther's cry,
Chirping like mating birds --

Thus, thus, we learned to speak,
Who mid the snows were dumb,

Nor did we learn to kiss
Until the Spring had come.

Genesis
I was but a half-grown boy,

You were a girl-child slight.
Ah, how weary you were!

You had led in the bullock-fight . . .
We slew the bullock at length

With knives and maces of stone.
And so your feet were torn,

Your lean arms bruised to the bone.
Perhaps 'twas the slain beast's blood

We drank, or a root we ate,
Or our reveling evening bath

In the fall by the garden gate,
But you turned to a witching thing,

Side-glancing, and frightened me;
You purred like a panther's cub,

You sighed like a shell from the sea.
We knelt. I caressed your hair

By the light of the leaping fire:
Your fierce eyes blinked with smoke,

Pine-fumes, that enhanced desire.
I helped to unbraid your hair

In wonder and fear profound:
You were humming your hunting tune

As it swept to the grassy ground.
Our comrades, the shaggy bear,

The tiger with velvet feet,
The lion, crept to the light

Whining for bullock meat.
We fed them and stroked their necks . . .

They took their way to the fen
Where they hunted or hid all night;

No enemies, they, of men.
Evil had entered not

The cobra, since defiled.
He watched, when the beasts had gone

Our kissing and singing wild.
Beautiful friend he was,

Sage, not a tempter grim.
Many a year should pass

Ere Satan should enter him.
He danced while the evening dove

And the nightingale kept in tune.
I sang of the angel sun:

You sang of the angel-moon:
We sang of the ANGEL-CHIEF

Who blew thro' the trees strange breath,
Who helped in the hunt all day

And granted the bullock's death.
O Eve with the fire-lit breast

And child-face red and white!
I heaped the great logs high!

That was our bridal night.
Queen Mab in the Village

Once I loved a fairy,
Queen Mab it was. Her voice

Was like a little Fountain
That bids the birds rejoice.

Her face was wise and solemn,
Her hair was brown and fine.

Her dress was pansy velvet,
A butterfly design.

To see her hover round me
Or walk the hills of air,

Awakened love's deep pulses
And boyhood's first despair;

A passion like a sword-blade
That pierced me thro' and thro':

Her fingers healed the sorrow
Her whisper would renew.

We sighed and reigned and feasted
Within a hollow tree,

We vowed our love was boundless,
Eternal as the sea.

She banished from her kingdom
The mortal boy I grew --

So tall and crude and noisy,
I killed grasshoppers too.

I threw big rocks at pigeons,
I plucked and tore apart

The weeping, wailing daisies,
And broke my lady's heart.

At length I grew to manhood,
I scarcely could believe

I ever loved the lady,
Or caused her court to grieve,

Until a dream came to me,
One bleak first night of Spring,

Ere tides of apple blossoms
Rolled in o'er everything,

While rain and sleet and snowbanks
Were still a-vexing men,

Ere robin and his comrades
Were nesting once again.

I saw Mab's Book of Judgment --
Its clasps were iron and stone,

Its leaves were mammoth ivory,
Its boards were mammoth bone, --

Hid in her seaside mountains,
Forgotten or unkept,

Beneath its mighty covers
Her wrath against me slept.

And deeply I repented
Of brash and boyish crime,

Of murder of things lovely
Now and in olden time.

I cursed my vain ambition,
My would-be worldly days,

And craved the paths of wonder,
Of dewy dawns and fays.

I cried, "Our love was boundless,
Eternal as the sea,

O Queen, reverse the sentence,
Come back and master me!"

The book was by the cliff-side

• instrument [´instrumənt] n.仪器；手段；乐器 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• scarce [skeəs, skers] a.缺乏的；稀有的 (初中英语单词)
• awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
• bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
• velvet [´velvit] n.&a.天鹅绒(般的) (初中英语单词)
• butterfly [´bʌtəflai] n.蝴蝶；蝶式 (初中英语单词)
• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
• whisper [´wispə] v.耳语 n.低语；沙沙声 (初中英语单词)
• reverse [ri´və:s] v.颠倒；(使)反向 (初中英语单词)
• hearth [hɑ:θ] n.炉边；家庭(生活) (高中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• parrot [´pærət] n.鹦鹉；应声虫 (英语四级单词)
• knives [naivz] knife的复数 (英语四级单词)
• grassy [´grɑ:si] a.多草的；青草味的 (英语四级单词)
• shaggy [´ʃægi] a.蓬乱的；多粗毛的 (英语四级单词)
• nightingale [´naitiŋgeil] n.夜莺 (英语四级单词)
• bridal [´braidl] a.&n.婚礼(的) (英语四级单词)
• boyish [´bɔiiʃ] a.少年的；幼稚的 (英语四级单词)
• worldly [´wə:ldli] a.现世的；世俗的 (英语四级单词)
• hunting [´hʌntiŋ] n.打猎 (英语六级单词)
• weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)
• mammoth [´mæməθ] a.庞大的 (英语六级单词)