White, O white face— from disenchanted days wither alike dark rose and fiery bays: no gift within our hands,

Stars wheel in purple, yours is no… as Hesperus, nor yet so great a st… as bright Aldeboran or Sirius, nor yet the stained and brilliant… stars turn in purple, glorious to…

YOU are as gold as the half—ripe grain that merges to gold again, as white as the white rain that beats through

Each of us like you has died once, has passed through drift of wood—l… cracked and bent and tortured and unbent

Silver dust lifted from the earth, higher than my arms reach, you have mounted. O silver,

So you have swept me back, I who could have walked with the l… above the earth, I who could have slept among the l… at last;

NOR skin nor hide nor fleece Shall cover you, Nor curtain of crimson nor fine Shelter of cedar—wood be over you, Nor the fir—tree

The light passes from ridge to ridge, from flower to flower— the hepaticas, wide—spread under the light

Weed, moss—weed, root tangled in sand, sea—iris, brittle flower, one petal like a shell is broken,

I saw the first pear as it fell— the honey—seeking, golden—banded, the yellow swarm was not more fleet than I,

Amber husk fluted with gold, fruit on the sand marked with a rich grain, treasure

From citron—bower be her bed, cut from branch of tree a—flower, fashioned for her maidenhead. From Lydian apples, sweet of hue, cut the width of board and lathe,

Are you alive? I touch you. You quiver like a sea—fish. I cover you with my net. What are you —banded one?