WHAT wonder that I loved her thus, that night? The Immortals know each other at first sight, And Love is of them. In the fading light Of that delicious eve, whose stars even yet Gild the long dreamless nights, and cannot set, She passed me, through the silence: all her hair, Her waving, warm, bright hair neglectfully Poured round her snowy throat as without care Of its own beauty. And when she turned on me The sorrowing light of desolate eyes divine, I knew in a moment what our lives must be Henceforth. It lightened on me then and there, How she was irretrievably all mine, I hers, -- through time, become eternity. It could not ever have been otherwise, Gazing into those eyes. And if, before I gazed on them, my soul, Oblivious of her destiny, had followed, In days forever silent, the control Of any beauty less divinely hallowed Than that upon her beautiful white brows, (The serene summits of all earthly sweet, ness!) Straightway the records of all other vows Of idol-worship faded silently Out of the folding leaves of memory, Forever and forever; and my heart became Pure white at once, to keep in its completeness, And perfect purity, Her mystic name. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BABY BELL by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH PRISONED IN WINDSOR, HE RECOUNTETH HIS PLEASURE THERE PASSED by HENRY HOWARD STRANGE MEETING by WILFRED OWEN THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 86. LOST DAYS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI IMAGES: 4 by RICHARD ALDINGTON |