BETA

Shakespeare’s Women.

Beyond me and above me, far away1
From colder poets lies a land Elysian—2
The haunted land where Shakespeare’s ladies stray3
Through shadowy groves and golden glades of
vision ;4
And there I wander oft, as poets may,5
Cooling the fever of a hot ambition,6
’Mong ghostly shades or palaces divine,7
And pray at Shakespeare’s Soul as at a shrine !8
Fair are those ladies all, some pure as foam,9
And sadder some than earthly ladies are ;10
From Juliet, calm and beautiful as home,11
Whose love was whiter than the morning star,12
To Egypt, when the rebel lord of Rome13
Lolled at her knee and watch’d the world from far—14
Selling his manhood for a woman’s kiss,15
But fretting in the heyday of his bliss.16
There Portia argues love against the Jew,17
With quips and quiddities of azure eyes ;18
Fidele mourns for Posthumus untrue,19
And wanders homeless under angry skies ;20
There white Ophelia moans her ditties new,21
Sad as the swan’s weird music when it dies ;22
There roaming hand in hand, as free as wind,23
Walk little Celia and tall Rosalind.24
And Slender Julia walks in man’s attire,25
Praising her own sweet face which Proteus wrongs ;26
Miranda, isled from kisses, strikes the lyre27
Of her own wishes into fairy songs ;28
And stainless Hero, flashing into fire,29
Chides with her death the lie her love prolongs ;30
With buxom Beatrice, whose heart denies31
The jest she still endorses with her eyes !32
Shipwreck’d Marina wanders through the night,33
Blushing at sound, and trembling for the morn ,34
And blue-eyed Constance rises up her height35
To fortify her hope with words of scorn ;36
The lass of Florizel in tearful plight,37
Still seeks her hope in labyrinths forlorn ;38
And high upon a pinnacle, I see39
Cordelia weeping at the wild King’s knee !40
And in the darkest corner of the land41
Walks one with blacker brows and looks of pain,42
Heart-haunted by the shade of past command—43
The pale-faced Queen, who sinned beside the Thane ;44
And still she moans, and eyes a bloody hand45
That once was lily-white without a stain ;46
Robbed of the strength which help’d the Thane to
climb,47
When growing with the grandeur of crime.48
But in the centre of a little hall,49
Roof’d by a patch of sky with stars and moon,50
Titania sighs a love-sick madrigal,51
Throned in the red heart of a rose of June ;52
And round about, the fairies rise and fall53
Like daisies’ shadows to an elfin tune ;54
Behind them, plaining through a citron grove,55
Moves gentle Hermia, chasing hope and love.56
I dream in this delicious land, where Song57
Epitomised all beauty and all love,58
Familiar as my mother’s face, the throng59
Of ladies through its shady vistas move ;60
Time listens to the sorrow they prolong,61
And Faney weeps beside them, and above62
Broods Music, wearing on her golden wings63
The darkness of sublime imaginings.64
O let me, dreaming on in this sweet place,65
Draw near to Shakespeare’s Soul with reverent eyes,66
Let me dream on, forgetting time and space,67
Pavilion’d in a golden Paradise,68
Where smiles are conjured on the stately face,69
And true-love kisses mix with tears and sighs ;70
Where each immortal lady still prolongs71
The life our Shakespeare calentured in songs.72
And in the spirit’s twilight, when I feel73
Hard-visaged Labour recommending leisure,74
Let me thus climb to fairy heights and steal75
Soft commune with the shapes all poets treasure ;76
Wrapt in luscious life from head to heel,77
Swimming from trance to trance of speechless
pleasure,78
And now and then, not erring, dream of bliss79
Whose brimful soul runs over in a kiss !80