TALISMAN

Each cup shall be broken,

Each tower shall fall,

All drink be bitter,

Bitter as gall,

The dark heart go lonely —

Save for one tower,

One cyathus only,

One wine of power!

My love's white beauty

Is this tower,

The wine of her beauty

My wine of power,

The cup of her spirit

Mine to drain

With awful knowledge

And trembling pain.

She only, she only

Stands on the stars.

Her small hands grapple

Heaven's black bars.

Only her deep love

Pays the price

Of a sight of the vistas

Of paradise.

Each goblet may shatter,

Each tower may fall,

Low livid sunset

Darken on all —

In her soul's high tower

My love pours wine,

And the glory and the power

Of the stars are mine!