Poems (Blake)/For Aye and Aye
FOR AYE AND AYE.
O jeweled day, so fairly set Within the seasons' golden clasping,O sapphire seas, that toss and fret The yellow sands with eager grasping,—O warm, sweet air that comes and goesWith musky breath of pink and rose,When night shall hang her lamps on highWill you be gone for aye and aye?
Fair earth, in all the happy prime Of nodding blooms that deck the meadow,And tangled boughs that creep and climb In dim green aisles of sun and shadow,Bright wings that flutter as ye passIn tuneful flight above the grass,When the swift summer hastens byWill ye be dimmed for aye and aye?
Deep, murmurous calms that brood and sweep As if the earth in tranquil seeming Lay hushed by whispering winds asleep, And our wrapt souls were with her dreaming;Bright waves that dimple as ye runBeneath the kisses of the sun,When wild the storm king's banners fly,Will ye be lost for aye and aye?
Nay! for my longing eyes have flown To each fair point of joy and sweetness,And made the living page my own In all its rare and bright completeness:So come dark veil of sombre night,Come tempest wrath, and winter blight,For earth and air and song and skyShall live with me for aye and aye.