132. AWAKE, MY HEART, TO BE LOVED
Reading edition
Awake, my heart, to be loved, awake, awake! The darkness silvers away, the morn doth break, It leaps in the sky: unrisen lustres slake The o'ertaken moon. Awake, O heart, awake!
She too that loveth awaketh and hopes for thee; Her eyes already have sped the shades that flee,
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Already they watch the path thy feet shall take: Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake!
And if thou tarry from her,—if this could be,— She cometh herself, O heart, to be loved, to thee; For thee would unashamed herself forsake: Awake to be loved, my heart, awake, awake!
Awake! the land is scattered with light, and see, Uncanopied sleep is flying from field and tree: And blossoming boughs of April in laughter shake; Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake!
Lo all things wake and tarry and look for thee: She looketh and saith, "O sun, now bring him to me. Come more adored, O adored, for his coming's sake, And awake my heart to be loved: awake, awake!"
Robert Bridges.
133. AEDH WISHES FOR THE CLOTHS OF HEAVEN
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W. B. Yeats.
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134. BEAUTY
I have seen dawn and sunset on moors and windy hills Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain: I have seen the lady April bringing the daffodils, Bringing the springing grass and the soft warm April rain.
I have heard the song of the blossoms and the old chant of the sea, And seen strange lands from under the arched white sails of ships; But the loveliest things of beauty God ever has showed to me, Are her voice, and her hair, and eyes, and the dear red curve of her lips.
John Masefield.