The Convent Threshold

There's blood between us, love, my love,There's father's blood, there's brother's blood;And blood's a bar I cannot pass:I choose the stairs that mount above,Stair after golden skyward stair,To city and to sea of glass.My lily feet are soiled with mud,With scarlet mud which tells a taleOf hope that was, of guilt that was,Of love that shall not yet avail;Alas, my heart, if I could bareMy heart, this selfsame stain is there:I seek the sea of glass and fireTo wash the spot, to burn the snare;Lo, stairs are meant to lift us higher:Mount with me, mount the kindled stair.

Your eyes look earthward, mine look up.I see the far-off city grand,Beyond the hills a watered land,Beyond the gulf a gleaming strandOf mansions where the righteous sup;Who sleep at ease among their trees,Or wake to sing a cadenced hymnWith Cherubim and Seraphim;They bore the Cross, they drained the cup,Racked, roasted, crushed, wrenched limb from limb,They the offscouring of the world:The heaven of starry heavens unfurled,The sun before their face is dim.

You looking earthward what see you?Milk-white wine-flushed among the vines,Up and down leaping, to and fro,Most glad, most full, made strong with wines,Blooming as peaches pearled with dew,Their golden windy hair afloat,Love-music warbling in their throat,Young men and women come and go.

You linger, yet the time is short:Flee for your life, gird up your strengthTo flee; the shadows stretched at lengthShow that day wanes, that night draws nigh;Flee to the mountain, tarry not.Is this a time for smile and sigh,For songs among the secret treesWhere sudden blue birds nest and sport?The time is short and yet you stay:To-day while it is called to-dayKneel, wrestle, knock, do violence, pray;To-day is short, to-morrow nigh:Why will you die? why will you die?

You sinned with me a pleasant sin:Repent with me, for I repent.Woe's me the lore I must unlearn!Woe's me that easy way we went,So rugged when I would return!How long until my sleep begin,How long shall stretch these nights and days?Surely, clean Angels cry, she prays;She laves her soul with tedious tears:How long must stretch these years and years?

I turn from you my cheeks and eyes,My hair which you shall see no more--Alas for joy that went before,For joy that dies, for love that dies.Only my lips still turn to you,My livid lips that cry, Repent.Oh weary life, oh weary Lent,Oh weary time whose stars are few.

How should I rest in Paradise,Or sit on steps of heaven alone?If Saints and Angels spoke of loveShould I not answer from my throne:Have pity upon me, ye my friends,For I have heard the sound thereof:Should I not turn with yearning eyes,Turn earthwards with a pitiful pang?Oh save me from a pang in heaven.By all the gifts we took and gave,Repent, repent, and be forgiven:This life is long, but yet it ends;Repent and purge your soul and save:No gladder song the morning starsUpon their birthday morning sangThan Angels sing when one repents.

I tell you what I dreamed last night:A spirit with transfigured faceFire-footed clomb an infinite space.I heard his hundred pinions clang,Heaven-bells rejoicing rang and rang,Heaven-air was thrilled with subtle scents,Worlds spun upon their rushing cars:He mounted shrieking: 'Give me light.'Still light was poured on him, more light;Angels, Archangels he outstrippedExultant in exceeding might,And trod the skirts of Cherubim.Still 'Give me light,' he shrieked; and dippedHis thirsty face, and drank a sea,Athirst with thirst it could not slake.I saw him, drunk with knowledge, takeFrom aching brows the aureole crown--His locks writhed like a cloven snake--He left his throne to grovel downAnd lick the dust of Seraphs' feet:For what is knowledge duly weighed?Knowledge is strong, but love is sweet;Yea all the progress he had madeWas but to learn that all is smallSave love, for love is all in all.

I tell you what I dreamed last night:It was not dark, it was not light,Cold dews had drenched my plenteous hairThrough clay; you came to seek me there.And 'Do you dream of me?' you said.My heart was dust that used to leapTo you; I answered half asleep:'My pillow is damp, my sheets are red,There's a leaden tester to my bed:Find you a warmer playfellow,A warmer pillow for your head,A kinder love to love than mine.'You wrung your hands; while I like leadCrushed downwards through the sodden earth:You smote your hands but not in mirth,And reeled but were not drunk with wine.

For all night long I dreamed of you:I woke and prayed against my will,Then slept to dream of you again.At length I rose and knelt and prayed:I cannot write the words I said,My words were slow, my tears were few;But through the dark my silence spokeLike thunder. When this morning broke,My face was pinched, my hair was grey,And frozen blood was on the sillWhere stifling in my struggle I lay.

If now you saw me you would say:Where is the face I used to love?And I would answer: Gone before;It tarries veiled in paradise.When once the morning star shall rise,When earth with shadow flees awayAnd we stand safe within the door,Then you shall lift the veil thereof.Look up, rise up: for far aboveOur palms are grown, our place is set;There we shall meet as once we metAnd love with old familiar love.