Hymn To Eros

By Denise Levertov

O Eros, silently smiling one, hear me.

Let the shadow of thy wings

brush me.

Let thy presence

enfold me, as if darkness

were swandown.

Let me see that darkness

lamp in hand,

this country become

the other country

sacred to desire.

Drowsy god,

slow the wheels of my thought

so that I listen only

to the snowfall hush of

thy circling.

Close my beloved with me

in the smoke ring of thy power,

that we way be, each to the other,

figures of flame,

figures of smoke,

figures of flesh

newly seen in the dusk.