Poems (Spofford)/Valentine's Day
VALENTINE'S DAY.
Beloved, no great birthday dawn Of summer tinct with spices fine,Of sapphire skies and splendid blooms, Can dim the dear delight of thine!The ardent arch of August daysMay veil itself in wizard haze; But not in all such sweet decline Fate sent thee for my Valentine!
The winter weather, clear and fair, When all the air from stain was free,And far and blue the still sky soared O'er lands of calm from hill to sea;While deepening sunsets long and lowEbbed ruddier over blushing snow,— That winter weather summoned thee To life itself, to life and me.
How clean the land reposed! How pure From sky to sky its spotless white! What promise in the beckoning day, What mystery in alluring night!Oh, up what depths of violet darkThe crystal stars leaned forth to mark How forests felt the ice-sheathed flight Of rivers rushing to the light!
O love! thy soul was like the earth Wrapped so serenely in its snows;And by and by such searching sun, And by and by such south wind blows!From dreams divine in odorous cellsWaken at length the wild flower bells; The sacred haunts their wealth disclose, And widely blooms the perfect rose!
Clear eyes that opened on the world, Your dusky wells received what cheer?How couldst thou twice the twelvemonth live Before my soul was kindled, dear?Where was I, darling, in those days,—Those tender twice-returning days,— When eagerly thou met'st the year, When life was glad and I not here?
Strange, shadowy time, ere I had made A tone in the sphere's harmony!Yet source of those immortal things That blend love with infinity.I am an attribute of thine:Came with thy senses rare and fine, Stay while those powers most regal be, Die when thou hast no need of me.
No need of me? The airs shall fail, Streams be forgotten by the sea,Red autumn paint no country-side, The wintry weather cease to be,But thou and I shall part no more;The heavens shall reel from earth before, The constant sun to death may flee, And yet thou shalt have need of me!