The Sobbing Murmur of the Sea

Pale as the night that pales In the dawn's pearl-pure pavillion I wait for thee, with my dove's breast Shuddering, a god its bitter guest Have I guilded my nails And painted my lips with vermillion? Am I not wholly stript Of the deeds and thoughts that obscure thee? I wait for thee, my soul distraught With aching the nameless naught In its most arcane crypt Am I not fit to endure thee? Girded about the paps With a golden girdle of glory Dost thou wait me, thy slave who am As a wolf lurks for a strayed white lamb? The chain of the stars snap And the deep of night is hoary! Thou whose mouth is a flame With its seven-edged sword proceeding Come! I am writhing with despair Like a snake taken in a snare Moaning thy mistical name Till my tongue is torn and bleeding Have I not guilded my nails And painted my lips with vermillion? Yea! Thou atr I: the deed awakes Thy lightening strikes; thy thunder breaks Wild as the bride that wails In the bridegroom's plumed pavillion! Gabriel whispered in mine ear His archangelic poesie. How can I write? I only hear The sobbing murmur of the sea. Raphael beathed and bade me pass His rapt evangel to mankind; I cannot even match, alas! The ululation of the wind. Kill off mankind, And give the Earth a chance! Nature might find In her inheritance The seedlings of a race Less infinitely base I am that hawk of gold Proud in adamantine poise On the pillars of torqoise See,beyond the starry fold Where a darkling orb is rolled.