Talk of this mystery of life and death:
Thou, strong in faith, art gifted to conceive
Beyond thy years, and teach us to believe!

Then take my palms, triumphal, to thy home,
Gentle white palmer, never more to roam!
Only, sweet sister, give me, ere thou go'st,
Thy benediction,--for my love thou know'st!
We, too, are pilgrims, travelling towards the shrine:
Pray that our pilgrimage may end like thine!

* * * * *

THE RIM.

PART I.


There are women at whom, after the first meeting, you forget to glance a
second time, they seem to be such indifferent creations, such imperfect
sketches of an idea to be fulfilled farther on in a clearer type, but
who, met once more and yet again, suddenly take you captive in bonds.
You find the sallow cheek to be but polished ivory, the heavy eye loaded
with fire, the irregular features chords of a harmony whose whole is
perfect; you find that this is the type itself; while in every gesture,
every word, every look, the soul is shed abroad, and the fascination is
what neither Campaspe, nor Jocasta, nor even Aspasia herself held in
fee. For you, she has blossomed into the one beauty of the world; you
hear her, and the Sirens sing in vain; she touches you, and makes you
the slave beneath her feet.