WHITENESS
WHITE roses set in ivory urns,
White violets wreathed in silver cups;
White marble founts whose moss and ferns,
The shadow of the moon drink up.
Since I have known you and your ways,
Things such as these are my delights.
A whiteness glimmers on my days,
A whiteness hovers o'er my nights.
White dews, white crescent moons, white dawns,
White flickering feet, white-gleaming hands,
White limbs that dream on twilight lawns,
White limbs that dance on shimmering sands.
O child, O maiden-acolyte,
Whose censer breathes such silvery breath,
Pour wine white as the flesh of Christ
Upon the altar of white death!
Then all red things shall fade away —
Red flame, red roses, and red blood,
And we shall voyage night and day
The white sea of the tears of God.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1924.
The author died in 1963, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.