Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE VEILED AVENGER; A FRAGMENT by WILLIAM SHARP

First Line: I AM HE
Last Line: HIS OWN BITTER INFINITE CRY WE HEAR HIM CRY!
Subject(s): COMFORT; DESPAIR; DREAMS; PITY; REDEMPTION; SPIRITUAL LIFE; NIGHTMARES;
. . . I am He,
The Veiled Avenger. I am clothed with shadow
The silence and the shadow of your soul
Where it has withered slowly from the light.

The Veiled Avenger speaks. He knows him not.

I hear a honey voice that murmureth peace,
Peace and oblivion. O ye secret doves
That feed the mind with sweet and perilous breaths
And murmur ever among gossamer dreams,
Bring me the tidings out of the hidden place
Wherein your wings wake fire. Come once again, wild doves
Of Beauty and Desire and the Twin Flame!
Wild doves, wild doves, bear unto me the flame
That rises moonwhite amid scarlet fire . . .

(@3A lapwing wails.@1)

O melancholy bird, Dalua's messenger!
I am too weary now for further thought.

@3The Veiled Avenger@1

Pillows of sleepless sorrow . . . . Bow your head.
To-night I shall build up for you a place
Where sleep shall not be silent and where dreams
Shall whisper, and a little infinite voice
Shall wail as a wailing plover in your ears.
Then you shall know that shaken voice, and wake,
Crying your own name.

@3The Man@1
Again, the wheeling cry
Where in the dusk the lapwing slips and falls
From ledge to ledge of darkness.

@3Unseen Chorus@1
He knoweth not
His own bitter infinite cry we hear him cry!



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