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Arthur Symons - The Ecstasy
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What is this reverence in extreme delight 
That waits upon my kisses as they Storm, 
Vehemently, this height 
Of Steep and inaccessible delight; 
And seems with newer ecstasy to warm 
Their slackening ardour, and invite, 
From nearer heaven, the swarm 
Of hiving stars with mortal sweetness down? 
Never before 
Have I endured an exaltation 
So exquisite in anguish, and so sore 
In promise and possession of full peace. 
Cease not, O nevermore 
Cease, 
To lift my joy, as upon windy wings, 
Into that infinite ascension, where, 
In baths of glittering air, 
It finds a heaven and like an angel sings. 
Heaven waits above, 
There where the clouds and fastnesses of love 
Lift earth into the skies; 
And I have seen the glimmer of the gates, 
And twice or thrice 
Climbed half the difficult way, 
Only to say 
Heaven waits. 
Only to fall away from paradise. 
But now, O what is this
Mysterious and uncapturable bliss 
That I have never known, yet seems to be 
Simple as breath, and easy as a smile, 
And older than the earth? 
Now but a little while 
This ultimate ecstasy 
Has parted from its birth, 
Now but a little while been wholly mine, 
Yet am I utterly possessed 
By the delicious tyrant and divine 
Child, this importunate guest.
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