War and Love/Possession

by Richard Aldington

For works with similar titles, see Possession.

 

POSSESSION

I have held you with joy and passion,
With ecstasy sharp like pain—
Blind with your kisses, dumb with your desire,
Shuddering at the fierce bliss of your touch.

Thus I have loved you, thus held you mine;
But I must hold you in grief and anguish,
In the long agony of childbirth;
I must hold you by shame,
I must hold you by despair,
I must hold you by sin,
I must hold you in death.

I must possess you utterly
And utterly must you possess me;
So even if that dreamer's tale
Of heaven and hell be true
There shall be two spirits rived together
Either in whatever peace be heaven
Or in the icy whirlwind that is hell
For those who loved each other more than God,
So that the other spirits shall cry out:
"Ahi! Look how the ancient love yet holds to them
That these two ghosts are never driven apart
But kiss with shadowy kisses and still take
Joy from the mingling of their misty limbs!"