War and Love/Terror

by Richard Aldington

For works with similar titles, see Terror.

 

TERROR

I
Those of the earth envy us,
Envy our beauty and frail strength;
Those of the wind and the moon
Envy our pain.

II
For as a doe that has never born child
We were swift to fly from terror;
And as fragile edged steel
We turned, we pierced, we endured.

III
We have known terror:
The terror of the wind and silent shadows,
The terror of great heights,
The terror of the worm,
The terror of thunder and fire,
The terror of water and slime,
The terror of horror and fear,
The terror of desire and pain—
The terror of apathy.

IV
As a beast, as an arrow of pine,
Terror cleft us,
Tore us in envy away,
So that for month upon month
Pain wore us, hope left us, despair clutched us.
For those of the earth envied us,
Envied our beauty and strength.

V
Yet because, though we faltered and wept,
We held fast, clung close to our love,
Scorned hate even as they scorned us,
Some god has lightened our lives,
Given back the cool mouth of song
And the hands that blossom of fire,
Given too the month crushed like a flower
Which unpetals in marvelous ways,
The limbs that are hard and straight
With maidenly thews and blood,
Given those so that day is aflame
And night shot golden with shafts.

VI
We have suffered, we have bled,
And those of the wind and the moon
Envy our pain, the pain of the terror,
The delight no terror could slay.