Fatima

O sun, that from thy noonday height

Shudderest when I strain my sight,

Throbbing thro' all thy heat and light,

      Lo, falling from my constant mind,

      Lo, parch'd and wither'd, deaf and blind,

      I whirl like leaves in roaring wind.

Below the city's eastern towers:

I thirsted for the brooks, the showers:

I rolled among the tender flowers:

      I crush'd them on my breast, my mouth:

      I look'd athwart the burning drouth

      Of that long desert to the south.

From my swift blood that went and came

A thousand little shafts of flame

Were shiver'd in my narrow frame.

      O Love, O fire! once he drew

      With one long kiss my whole soul thro'

      My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.

He cometh quickly: from below

Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow

Before him, striking on my brow.

      In my dry brain my spirit soon,

      Down-deepening from swoon to swoon,

      Faints like a dazzled morning moon.

And from beyond the noon a fire

Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher

The skies stoop down in their desire;

And, isled in sudden seas of light,

      My heart, pierced thro' with fierce delight,

      Bursts into blossom in his sight.

All naked in a sultry sky,

Droops blinded with his shining eye:

I will possess him or will die.

      I will grow round him in his place,

      Grow, live, die looking on his face,

      Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace.