A very pitiful lady, very young

A very pitiful lady, very young,Exceeding rich in human sympathies,Stood by, what time I clamour’d upon Death;And at the wild words wandering on my tongueAnd at the piteous look within mine eyesShe was affrighted, that sobs choked her breath.So by her weeping where I lay beneath,Some other gentle ladies came to knowMy state, and made her go:Afterward, bending themselves over me,One said, “Awaken thee!”And one, “What thing thy sleep disquieteth?”With that, my soul woke up from its eclipse,The while my lady’s name rose to my lips:

But utter’d in a voice so sob-broken,So feeble with the agony of tears,That I alone might hear it in my heart;And though that look was on my visage thenWhich he who is ashamed so plainly wears,Love made that I through shame held not apart,But gazed upon them. And my hue was suchThat they look’d at each other and thought of death;Saying under their breathMost tenderly, “O let us comfort him:”Then unto me: “What dreamWas thine, that it hath shaken thee so much?”And when I was a little comforted,“This, ladies, was the dream I dreamt,” I said.

“I was a-thinking how life fails with usSuddenly after such a little while;When Love sobb’d in my heart, which is his home.Whereby my spirit wax’d so dolorousThat in myself I said, with sick recoil:‘Yea, to my lady too this Death must come.’And therewithal such a bewildermentPossess’d me, that I shut mine eyes for peace;And in my brain did ceaseOrder of thought, and every healthful thing.Afterwards, wanderingAmid a swarm of doubts that came and went,Some certain women’s faces hurried by,And shriek’d to me, ‘Thou too shalt die, shalt die!’

“Then saw I many broken hinted sightsIn the uncertain state I stepp’d into.Meseem’d to be I know not in what place,Where ladies through the street, like mournful lights,Ran with loose hair, and eyes that frighten’d youBy their own terror, and a pale amaze:The while, little by little, as I thought,The sun ceased, and the stars began to gather,And each wept at the other;And birds dropp’d in mid-flight out of the sky;And earth shook suddenly;And I was ’ware of one, hoarse and tired out,Who ask’d of me: ‘Hast thou not heard it said?...Thy lady, she that was so fair, is dead.’

“Then lifting up mine eyes, as the tears came,I saw the Angels, like a rain of manna,In a long flight flying back Heavenward;Having a little cloud in front of them,After the which they went and said, ‘Hosanna;’And if they had said more, you should have heard.Then Love said, ‘Now shall all things be made clear:Come and behold our lady where she lies.’These ’wildering phantasiesThen carried me to see my lady dead.Even as I there was led,Her ladies with a veil were covering her;And with her was such very humblenessThat she appeared to say, ‘I am at peace.’

“And I became so humble in my grief,Seeing in her such deep humility,That I said: ‘Death, I hold thee passing goodHenceforth, and a most gentle sweet relief,Since my dear love has chosen to dwell with thee:Pity, not hate, is thine, well understood.Lo! I do so desire to see thy faceThat I am like as one who nears the tomb;My soul entreats thee, Come.’Then I departed, having made my moan;And when I was aloneI said, and cast my eyes to the High Place:‘Blessed is he, fair soul, who meets thy glance!’... Just then you woke me, of your complaisaùnce.”