The Poetry Corner

Elysium

By D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Richards)

I have found a place of loneliness Lonelier than Lyonesse Lovelier than Paradise; Full of sweet stillness That no noise can transgress Never a lamp distress. The full moon sank in state. I saw her stand and wait For her watchers to shut the gate. Then I found myself in a wonderland All of shadow and of bland Silence hard to understand. I waited therefore; then I knew The presence of the flowers that grew Noiseless, their wonder noiseless blew. And flashing kingfishers that flew In sightless beauty, and the few Shadows the passing wild-beast threw. And Eve approaching over the ground Unheard and subtle, never a sound To let me know that I was found. Invisible the hands of Eve Upon me travelling to reeve Me from the matrix, to relieve Me from the rest! Ah terribly Between the body of life and me Her hands slid in and set me free. Ah, with a fearful, strange detection She found the source of my subjection To the All, and severed the connection. Delivered helpless and amazed From the womb of the All, I am waiting, dazed For memory to be erased. Then I shall know the Elysium That lies outside the monstrous womb Of time from out of which I come.