Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By An Italian Garden (1886). I. Florentine MayA. Mary F. Robinson-Darmesteter (18571944)
S
Still and as dear;
Deep, solemn, immense; veiling the stars in the clear
Thrilling and luminous blue of the moon—shot atmosphere;
Ah, could the Night remain!
Thou, O heavenly Night,
Clear o’er the valley of olives asleep in the quivering light,
Clear o’er the pale-red hedge of the rose, and the lilies all white
Down at my feet in the green?
Far more dear and divine;
Never the noon was blue as the tremulous heavens of thine,
Pulsing with stars half seen, and vague in a pallid shrine,
Vague as a dream.
Shining in thicket and close,
Fire from the lamp in his breast that the luminous fire-fly throws;
Night, full of wandering light and the song, and the blossoming rose,
Night, be thou my desire!
Open thy wings!
Ah, bend above and embrace!—till I hear in the one bird that sings
The throb of thy musical heart in the dusk, and the magical things
Only the Night can know.