---

Robert Laurence Binyon - Midsummer Vigil
Work rating: Low

Night smiles on me with her stars,
 Mystic, pure, enchanted, lone.
 Light, that only heaven discloses,
 Is in heaven that no cloud mars;
 Here, through murmuring darkness blown,
 Comes the scent of unseen roses.

 Now the world is all asleep;
 Drowsy man dull rest is taking.
 I with whispering trees apart
 My deserted vigil keep.
 Light leaves in the light wind shaking
 Echo back my beating heart.

 And the garden`s perfumes thrill me
 Like a touch or whispered name:
 Heliotrope and lavender
 Slumber--odoured lilies, fill me
 With their breath, like subtlest flame;
 Vague desire and yearning stir.

 Shadowy elms above me, crowned
 With mysterious foliage, dim
 Mid the stars, against the skies,
 Hidden lawn and alley bound,
 Full of voices, full of dream,
 Fragrant breathings and long sighs.

 Wishes, that with eager tongues
 Strive among the soft--blown boughs,
 Each an amorous messenger;
 Dreams, that glide in noiseless throngs;
 Wingèd flight of earnest vows;
 Listening with hushed breath I hear.

 This intoxicating sweetness
 That the perfumed air exhales,
 Stir of thoughts and dear desires,
 Joys that faint with their own fleetness,
 Passion that for utterance fails;
 Whither burns it? where aspires?

 `Tis for her, whose worshipped hand
 Holds my heart, for life, for death.
 Ah, could she, could she but come
 Hither, where Love`s witching wand
 Holds the midnight`s thoughtful breath,
 While the stars are glittering dumb!

 Come, that into that sweet ear
 I might pour what until now
 Never heart brought tongue to tell,
 Mistress ne`er had bliss to hear,
 Lover with his hundredth vow
 Vainly sought to syllable.

 Pale with transport when I take
 `Twixt my hands her face, and look
 Deep into her brimming eyes,
 Passionately fain to speak,
 How my trembling murmurs mock
 Those unuttered ecstacies!

 And when cheek to cheek is prest,
 And the pulse of her pure being
 Throbs from her veins into mine,
 Love in torment from my breast
 Cries athirst for language, freeing
 In sweet speech his pangs divine.

 How should language, weak and vain,
 Bear the burden of such joy?
 How should words the meaning reach
 Of that charm`s ecstatic pain;
 Charm which words would but destroy
 Of devotion beyond speech?

 But to--night, dear, Love is kind,
 And those jealous bonds that mesh
 The heart`s tongue--tied truth sets free.
 Undivided, unconfined
 By those walls of human flesh,
 Look, my heart is bared to thee!

 Seeing, thou shalt want not eyes;
 Hearing, thou shalt need not ears;
 Purged, our spirits shall burn through
 Tedious day`s necessities.
 O to cast off doubts and fears!
 To touch truth, and feel it true!

 Thou my tender thought shalt find
 Ever, like a quick--eyed slave,
 Watching for thy wish unspoken;
 In my inmost treasury shrined
 Looks and tones thy spirit gave,
 Faith`s for ever cherished token!

 Come, O come, where`er thou art!
 Ere this rich hour past reprieve
 In the garish daylight die,
 Hear me, Sweet, and my heart`s heart,
 My soul`s soul, believe, receive,
 Poured into a single sigh!
Source
The script ran 0.002 seconds.