Poems (Hooper)/Adam Lux
ADAM LUX.
I saw the tumbril slowly pass; You stood there, beautiful, unmoved,Calm in the presence of your doom:. I looked upon you and I loved.
The waiting guillotine rose dark Against the lurid morning sky;I saw the axe fall—yet I lived, I lived, O love! for you to die.
I saw the headsman's dastard stroke Flush into red your pallid cheek;That cheek my lips have longed to press With a wild thirst they ne'er could speak.
I fled to ask your hand of Death; "Greater than Brutus!" was my cry;And now I sit here calmly blest, For you are dead and I shall die.
To-morrow I shall cross the dark, Mysterious gulf that 'twixt us lies,And I shall greet you with the light Of love undying in my eyes.
Yes we shall meet. Though men have said There is no world beyond the skies,—That angels, heaven, God himself, Are but the birth of priestly lies.
There is a heaven. I have seen Its radiance upon your brow,And somewhere, o'er its sapphire floors, Your spirit treads in glory now.
O eyes, whose glance ne'er fell on me! O lips, whose kiss I never knew!Shall glance and kiss at last be mine. In yon far world beyond the blue?
I trust in God. This hour supreme Brings back the olden faith and trustIn Him, the God my childhood knew, The loving, merciful, and just.
Pass quickly, night, and bring the morn That comes to set my spirit free;Somewhere the other side of Death Charlotte Corday now waits for me!