For Mary Helen

Beauty Shall Walk Unwounded through the World

Deep in the chalice of the lily's bloom

A secret hides beneath the stamens' crown,

Golden, quivering in the slightest breeze.

For in her dew-drenched cup silent love

Abides and mystery yields to those pure souls

Whom God has touched, unburdened of the cares

That press on mind, the troubling of desire

And whisper of dark voices in the night.

Hold me beloved in thy vast surround.

I need no human limbs to twine me round

Or human lips to seal love's covenant

For I have gone beyond the bordered world.

O essence of all perfumes, spirit divine,

Who whispers in the wind's caress of leaves

Thy laughter joins the rushing water's song.

I open to thee the tear-stained tracts of soul.

Speak to me the poems my heart can hear,

Voicing through flowers beauty ever near.

Despite the storms of fate our joy survives.

Sing of thy flight to worlds I cannot see,

Denied to life, accessible by death,

Of visions thou hast seen among the blest;

I would know thee without form as once thy touch

Awakened all my consciousness to love.

Still am I closed to spheres above our earth

Whose trees enwrap me in their green embrace,

Attached to soaring songs that fill the skies.

Earth's rich warm body laughing yields to me,

I feel her beating pulse beneath my feet.

The grasses speak: "Lie down and let thy tears

Descend beneath the earth to nourish roots

For love shall rise upon each springing blade."

Thy gentle hands that all God's promise held,

Thy feet that walked upon a soil divine,

Thy voice harmonious enrapturing,

Thy flesh to dust returned, thy soul to God,

I know that in some future life we'll meet.

Despite the vagaries of fate I smile,

The rose's fragrance lingers in the air -

And beauty shall walk unwounded through the world.