Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Volume 2

Chapter 70: 16

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About This Book

A compact collection of short lyrical poems that meditate on memory, seasonal change, love, and the natural world. Many pieces adopt an elegiac or contemplative tone, turning riverbanks, cliffs, gardens, and the sea into prompts for reflection on loss, longing, and the persistence of feeling. The verse mixes concise narrative moments, personified elements, and formal lyrical rhythms, producing musical and measured language. Poems are presented in grouped sections alongside newly gathered pieces and editorial notes, yielding a varied sequence of brief, reflective lyrics and conversational vignettes.

16

Fire of heaven, whose starry arrow

Pierces the veil of timeless night:

Molten spheres, whose tempests narrow

Their floods to a beam of gentle light,

To charm with a moon-ray quenched from fire

The land of delight, the land of desire!

Smile of love, a flower planted,

Sprung in the garden of joy that art:

Eyes that shine with a glow enchanted,

Whose spreading fires encircle my heart,

And warm with a noon-ray drenched in fire

My land of delight, my land of desire!