Which of my palaces? Gold one by one,
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Of all the splendid houses of my throne,
This day in grave thought have I over-gone:
Those roofs of stars where I have lived alone
Gladly with God; those blue-encompassed bowers
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Hushed round with lakes, and guarded with still flowers,
Where I have watched a face from eve till morn,
Then on from morn again till the next eve,
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Still with strange eyes, unable to believe;
And yet, though week and month and year went by,
Incredulous of my ensorcelled eye.
O had I thus in trance for ever stayed,
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Still were she there in the reed-girdled isle,
And I there still—I who go treading now
Eternity, a-hungered mile by mile:
Because I pressed one kiss upon her brow,—
After a thousand years that seemed an hour
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After that patient planetary fast,
One kiss—and then strange dust that once was she.
Sayest thou, Rose, "What is all this to me?"
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This would I answer, if it pleaseth thee,
Thou Rose and Nightingale so strangely one:
That of my palaces, gold one by one,
I fell a-thinking, pondering which to-day,
The day of the Blessèd saint Saint Valentine,
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Which of those many palaces of mine,
I, with bowed head and lowly bended knee,
O which of all my lordly roofs that rise,
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To kiss the starry skies,
May with great beams make safe that golden head,
With all that treasure of hair showered and spread,
Careless as though it were not gold at all—
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Yet in the midnight lighting the black hall;
And all that whiteness lying there, as though
Pondering on all these pinnacles and towers,
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That, as I come with trumpets, call me lord,
And crown their battlements with girlhood flowers,
I can but think of one. 'Twas not my sword
That won it, nor was it aught I did or dreamed,
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But O it is a palace worthy thee!
For all about it flows the eternal sea,
A blue moat guarding an immortal queen;
And over it an everlasting crown
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That, as the moon comes and the sun goes down,
Adds jewel after jewel, gem on gem,
To the august appropriate diadem
Of her, in whom all potencies that are
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Wield sceptres and with quiet hands control;
Kind as that fairy wand the evening star,
Or the strong angel that we call the soul.
Thou splendid girl that seemest the mother of all,
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Dear Ceres-Aphrodite, with every lure
That draws the bee to honey, with the call
Of moth-winged night to sinners, yet as pure
As the white nun that counts the stars for beads;
Thou blest Madonna of all broken needs,
Thou Melusine, thou sister of sorrowing men,
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Thou wave-like laughter, thou dear sob in the throat,
Thou all-enfolding mercy, and thou song
That gathers up each wild and wandering note,
And takes and breaks and heals and breaks the heart
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With the omnipotent tenderness of art;
And thou Intelligence of rose-leaves made
That makes that little thing the brain afraid.
For thee my Castle of the Spring prepares:
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On the four winds are sped my couriers,
For thee the towered trees are hung with green;
Once more for thee, O queen,
The banquet hall with ancient tapestry
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Of woven vines grows fair and still more fair.
And ah! how in the minstrel gallery
Again there is the sudden string and stir
Of music touching the old instruments,
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While on the ancient floor
Nymphs of the house of spring plait for your feet—
And everywhere a hurrying to and fro,
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And whispers saying, "She is so sweet—so sweet";
O violets, be ye not too late to blow,
For, when she comes, all must be in its place,
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All ready for her entrance at the door,
All gladness and all glory for her face,
All flowers for her flower-feet a floor;
And, for her sleep at night in that great bed
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Where her great locks are spread,
O be ye ready, ye young woodland streams,
To sing her back her dreams.