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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students
Poetry Library

— Stephen Crane

I stood upon a high place,

And saw, below, many devils

Running, leaping,

And carousing in sin.

…

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adjective

Engaged in or ready for action; characterized by energetic work, thought, or speech.

“The students were very active in class discussions, asking many thoughtful questions.”

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IX. DELICIAE SAPIENTIAE DE AMORE.

145 lines
Coventry Patmore·1823–1896
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ove, light for meThy ruddiest blazing torch,That I, albeit a beggar by the PorchOf the glad Palace of Virginity,May gaze within, and sing the pomp I see;For, crown'd with roses all,'Tis there, O Love, they keep thy festival!But first warn off the beatific spotThose wretched who have notEven afar beheld the shining wall,And those who, once beholding, have forgot,And those, most vile, who dressThe charnel spectre drearOf utterly dishallow'd nothingnessIn that refulgent fame,And cry, Lo, here!And nameThe Lady whose smiles inflameThe sphere.Bring, Love, anear,And bid be not afraidYoung Lover true, and love-foreboding Maid,And wedded Spouse, if virginal of thought;For I will sing of noughtLess sweet to hearThan seemsA music in their half-remember'd dreams.The magnet calls the steel:Answers the iron to the magnet's breath;What do they feelBut death!The clouds of summer kiss in flame and rain,And are not found again;But the heavens themselves eternal are with fireOf unapproach'd desire,By the aching heart of Love, which cannot rest,In blissfullest pathos so indeed possess'd.O, spousals high;O, doctrine blest,Unutterable in even the happiest sigh;This know ye allWho can recallWith what a welling of indignant tearsLove's simpleness first hearsThe meaning of his mortal covenant,And from what pride comes downTo wear the crownOf which 'twas very heaven to feel the want.How envies he the waysOf yonder hopeless star,And so would laugh and yearnWith trembling lids eterne,Ineffably content from infinitely farOnly to gazeOn his bright Mistress's responding rays,That never know eclipse;And, once in his long year,With praeternuptial ecstasy and fear,By the delicious law of that ellipseWherein all citizens of ether move,With hastening pace to comeNearer, though never near,His LoveAnd always inaccessible sweet Home;There on his path doubly to burn.Kiss'd by her doubled lightThat whispers of its source,The ardent secret ever clothed with Night,Then go forth in new forceTowards a new return,Rejoicing as a Bridegroom on his course!This know ye all;Therefore gaze bold,That so in you be joyful hope increas'd,Thorough the Palace portals, and beholdThe dainty and unsating Marriage-Feast.O, hearThem singing clear'Cor meum et caro mea' round the 'I am,'The Husband of the Heavens, and the LambWhom they for ever follow there that kept,Or losing, never sleptTill they reconquer'd had in mortal fightThe standard white.O, hearFrom the harps they bore from Earth, five-strung, what music springs,While the glad Spirits chideThe wondering strings!And how the shining sacrificial Choirs,Offering for aye their dearest hearts' desires,Which to their hearts come back beatified,Hymn, the bright aisles along,The nuptial song,Song ever new to us and them, that saith,'Hail Virgin in Virginity a Spouse!'Heard first belowWithin the little houseAt Nazareth;Heard yet in many a cell where brides of ChristLie hid, emparadised,And where, althoughBy the hour 'tis night,There's light,The Day still lingering in the lap of snow.Gaze and be not afraidYe wedded few that honour, in sweet thoughtAnd glittering will,So freshly from the garden gather stillThe lily sacrificed;For ye, though self-suspected here for nought,Are highly styledWith the thousands twelve times twelve of undefiled.Gaze and be not afraidYoung Lover true and love-foreboding Maid.The full noon of deific vision brightAbashes nor abatesNo spark minute of Nature's keen delight.'Tis there your Hymen waits!There where in courts afar, all unconfused, they crowd,As fumes the starlight softIn gulfs of cloud,And each to the other, well-content,Sighs oft,''Twas this we meant!'Gaze without blameYe in whom living Love yet blushes for dead shame.There of pure Virgins noneIs fairer seen,Save One,Than Mary Magdalene.Gaze without doubt or fearYe to whom generous Love, by any name, is dear.Love makes the life to beA fount perpetual of virginity;For, lo, the ElectOf generous Love, how named soe'er, affectNothing but God,Or mediate or direct,Nothing but God,The Husband of the Heavens:And who Him love, in potence great or small,Are, one and all,Heirs of the Palace glad,And inly cladWith the bridal robes of ardour virginal.
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