Spirit Marriage

  I will love Thee as the Cloud loves-

     The soft cloud of the Summer;

  That winds its pearly arms round

     The rosy-tinted comer,

  Interwreathing till but one cloud

     Hangs dove-like in the blue,

  And throws no shadow earthward,

     But only nectar dew

  For the roses blushing under,

  And, purified from thunder,

Floats onward with the rich light melting through.

 

  I will love thee as the Rays love,

     That quiver down the ether,

  That many-hued in solitude,

     Are pure white, knit together;

  And, if the heavens darken,

     Yet faint not to despair,

  But bend their bow, hope-shafted,

     To glorify the air,-

  That do their simple duty,

  Light-warm with love and beauty,

Not scorning any low plant anywhere.

 

  I will love thee as the Sweets love,

     From dewy Rose and Lily,

  That fold together cloud-like,

     On zephyrs riding stilly,

  Till charmed Bard and Lover,

     Drunk with the scented gales,

  Name one Sweet and another,

     Not knowing which prevails;

  The wingéd airs caress them,

  The hearts of all things bless them,

So will we float in love that never fails.

 

  I will love thee as the Gods love-

     The Father God and Mother,

  Whose intermingled Being is

     The Life of every other,-

  One, absolute in Twoness,

     The universal Power

  Wedding Love the never-ending,

     Through Planet, Man, and Flower;

  Through all our notes shall run this

  Indissoluble Oneness,

With music ever deep'ning every hour.