To Helen + 

I saw thee onceвБ†вАФonce onlyвБ†вАФyears ago: + 

I must not say how manyвБ†вАФbut not many. + 

It was a July midnight; and from out + 

A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, + 

Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, + 

There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, + 

With quietude, and sultriness and slumber, + 

Upon the upturnвАЩd faces of a thousand + 

Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, + 

Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoeвБ†вАФ + 

Fell on the upturnвАЩd faces of these roses + 

That gave out, in return for the love-light, + 

Their odorous souls in an ecstatic deathвБ†вАФ + 

Fell on the upturnвАЩd faces of these roses + 

That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted + 

By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence. + 

Clad all in white, upon a violet bank + 

I saw thee half-reclining; while the moon + 

Fell on the upturnвАЩd faces of the roses, + 

And on thine own, upturnвАЩdвБ†вАФalas, in sorrow! + 

Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnightвБ†вАФ + 

Was it not Fate (whose name is also Sorrow), + 

That bade me pause before that garden-gate, + 

To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses? + 

No footstep stirred: the hated world all slept, + 

Save only thee and meвБ†вАФ(O Heaven!вБ†вАФO God! + 

How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)вБ†вАФ + 

Save only thee and me. I pausedвБ†вАФI lookedвБ†вАФ + 

And in an instant all things disappeared. + 

(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!) + 

The pearly lustre of the moon went out: + 

The mossy banks and the meandering paths, + 

The happy flowers and the repining trees, + 

Were seen no more: the very rosesвАЩ odors + 

Died in the arms of the adoring airs. + 

AllвБ†вАФall expired save theeвБ†вАФsave less than thou: + 

Save only the divine light in thine eyesвБ†вАФ + 

Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. + 

I saw but themвБ†вАФthey were the world to me. + 

I saw but themвБ†вАФsaw only them for hoursвБ†вАФ + 

Saw only them until the moon went down. + 

What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten + 

Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres! + 

How dark a woe! yet how sublime a hope! + 

How silently serene a sea of pride! + 

How daring an ambition! yet how deepвБ†вАФ + 

How fathomless a capacity for love! + 

But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, + 

Into a western couch of thunder-cloud; + 

And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees + 

Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained. + 

They would not goвБ†вАФthey never yet have gone. + 

Lighting my lonely pathway home that night, + 

They have not left me (as my hopes have) since. + 

They follow meвБ†вАФthey lead me through the years. + 

They are my ministersвБ†вАФyet I their slave. + 

Their office is to illumine and enkindleвБ†вАФ + 

My duty, to be saved by their bright light, + 

And purified in their electric fire, + 

And sanctified in their elysian fire. + 

They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope), + 

And are far up in HeavenвБ†вАФthe stars I kneel to + 

In the sad, silent watches of my night; + 

While even in the meridian glare of day + 

I see them stillвБ†вАФtwo sweetly scintillant + 

Venuses, unextinguished by the sun! + 