Afternoon

<SPAN name="XVIII"></SPAN>XVIII<br/> <br/> <br/> Oh days of fresh and quiet healthfulness<br/> When life is filled with beauty without end,<br/> And inspiration comes familiarly,<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">A cherished friend.</span><br/> <br/> He comes from lands all sweet and glimmering,<br/> And with his words, more fair than dew, has brought,<br/> Wherewith to set, a gem all luminous,<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">A sentiment, a thought.</span><br/> <br/> He seizes on our being like a storm,<br/> Rears up our spirit to new heights untrod,<br/> Pours down the fire from beating stars, and brings<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">The gift of being God.</span><br/> <br/> All fevered transports and profoundest fears<br/> To his own tragic will are ever whirled,<br/> That the pulse of beauty be made young<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the veins of the world.</span><br/> <br/> I am at his mercy, am his ardent prey!<br/> <br/> So, when from weary work I take my way,<br/> Toward the deep repose which is your love,<br/> With all my mind's high leaping fire sublime,<br/> It seems&mdash;oh, for an instant's time&mdash;<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">That I may offer you, oh love,</span><br/> As though of my own pulses it were part,<br/> Of the great universe itself, the beating heart.<br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />