FLOWERS OF PARNASSUS—IV.
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL
"The blessed Damozel leaned out."
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL
BY DANTE GABRIEL
ROSSETTI. WITH
ILLUSTRATIONS BY PERCY
BULCOCK
JOHN LANE: PUBLISHER
LONDON AND NEW YORK
1901
Wm. Clowes & Sons, Limited, Printers, London.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
["The blessed Damozel leaned out"] . . . Frontispiece
["'We two will stand beside that shrine'"]
["'And I myself will teach to him'"]
["'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand'"]
["And laid her face between her hands"]
Heading
I.
The blessed Damozel leaned out
From the gold bar of Heaven:
Her blue-grey eyes were deeper much
Than a deep water, even.
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven.
II.
Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,
No wrought flowers did adorn,
But a white rose of Mary's gift
On the neck meetly worn;
And her hair, lying down her back,
Was yellow like ripe corn.
III.
Herseemed she scarce had been a day
One of God's choristers;
The wonder was not yet quite gone
From that still look of hers;
Albeit to them she left, her day
Had counted as ten years.
IV.
(To one it is ten years of years
. . . Yet now, here in this place,
Surely she leaned o'er me,—her hair
Fell all about my face . . .
Nothing: the Autumn-fall of leaves.
The whole year sets apace.)
"Surely she leaned o'er me."
V.
It was the terrace of God's house
That she was standing on,—
By God built over the sheer depth
In which Space is begun;
So high, that looking downward thence,
She could scarce see the sun.
VI.
It lies from Heaven across the flood
Of ether, as a bridge.
Beneath, the tides of day and night
With flame and blackness ridge
The void, as low as where this earth
Spins like a fretful midge.
VII.
But in those tracts, with her, it was
The peace of utter light
And silence. For no breeze may stir
Along the steady flight
Of seraphim; no echo there,
Beyond all depth or height.
VIII.
Heard hardly, some of her new friends,
Playing at holy games,
Spake, gentle-mouthed, among themselves,
Their virginal chaste names;
And the souls, mounting up to God,
Went by her like thin flames.
IX.
And still she bowed herself, and stooped
Into the vast waste calm;
Till her bosom's pressure must have made
The bar she leaned on warm,
And the lilies lay as if asleep
Along her bended arm.
X.
From the fixt lull of heaven, she saw
Time, like a pulse, shake fierce
Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove,
In that steep gulph, to pierce
The swarm: and then she spake, as when
The stars sang in their spheres.
XI.
"I wish that he were come to me,
For he will come," she said.
"Have I not prayed in solemn heaven?
On earth, has he not prayed?
Are not two prayers a perfect strength?
And shall I feel afraid?
XII.
"When round his head the aureole clings,
And he is clothed in white,
I'll take his hand, and go with him
To the deep wells of light,
And we will step down as to a stream
And bathe there in God's sight.
"'We two will stand beside that shrine.'"
XIII.
"We two will stand beside that shrine,
Occult, withheld, untrod,
Whose lamps tremble continually
With prayer sent up to God;
And where each need, revealed, expects
Its patient period.
XIV.
"We two will lie i' the shadow of
That living mystic tree,
Within whose secret growth the Dove
Sometimes is felt to be,
While every leaf that His plumes touch
Saith His name audibly.
XV.
"And I myself will teach to him—
I myself, lying so—
The songs I sing here; which his mouth
Shall pause in, hushed and slow,
Finding some knowledge at each pause
And some new thing to know."
XVI.
(Alas! to her wise simple mind
These things were all but known
Before: they trembled on her sense,—
Her voice had caught their tone.
Alas for lonely Heaven! Alas
For life wrung out alone!
"'And I myself will teach to him.'"
XVII.
Alas, and though the end were reached?
Was thy part understood
Or borne in trust? And for her sake
Shall this too be found good?—
May the close lips that knew not prayer
Praise ever, though they would?)
XVIII.
"We two," she said, "will seek the groves
Where the lady Mary is,
With her five handmaidens, whose names
Are five sweet symphonies:—
Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen,
Margaret, and Rosalys.
XIX.
"Circle-wise sit they, with bound locks
And bosoms coveréd;
Into the fine cloths, white like flame,
Weaving the golden thread,
To fashion the birth-robes for them
Who are just born, being dead.
XX.
He shall fear haply, and be dumb.
Then will I lay my cheek
To his, and tell about our love,
Not once abashed or weak:
And the dear Mother will approve
My pride, and let me speak.
"'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand.'"
XXI.
'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,
To Him round whom all souls
Kneel—the unnumber'd solemn heads
Bowed with their aureoles:
And Angels, meeting us, shall sing
To their citherns and citoles.
XXII.
"There will I ask of Christ the Lord
Thus much for him and me:—
To have more blessing than on earth
In nowise; but to be
As then we were,—being as then
At peace. Yea, verily.
XXIII.
"Yea, verily; when he is come
We will do thus and thus:
Till this my vigil seem quite strange
And almost fabulous;
We two will live at once, one life;
And peace will be with us."
XXIV.
She gazed, and listened, and then said,
Less sad of speech than mild;
"All this is when he comes." She ceased;
The light thrilled past her, filled
With Angels, in strong level lapse.
Her eyes prayed, and she smiled.
"And laid her face between her hands."
XXV.
(I saw her smile.) But soon their flight
Was vague 'mid the poised spheres.
And then she cast her arms along
The golden barriers,
And laid her face between her hands,
And wept (I heard her tears).
THE END
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