Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/222

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186

Ideal Beauty.

CXXIII.

Ideal Beauty.

Absolve me for a while, undo The links that bind me as your thrall.So I be more myself, more worthy you;Let me forget you too in dreams, Your lang’rous waist and musicalSoft ways, like cadences of streams Unlooked for, strange, but sweetly rhythmical;

The morning freshness of the rose, The suave, strong motion of the sea,The strenuous splendour and repose Of marble, and the lily’s purity;

All these are types that symbolize The secret charm, the subtle grace,The music as of Paradise That plays about your lissom limbs and face;

Let me forget all these and be Once more self-centred, circumspect,And of dædalian longings free. Let me a fuller, stronger life elect;

So may I on a windy shore See screaming seagulls flying near,And hear the hollow channels roar, Nor seek in every breeze your voice to hear:

Or where the glints of sunshine steal Through clust’ring clematis and fern,There let me roam alone and feel The simple joys of sense for which I yearn;