Soon Shall the Winter's Foil Be Here
Soon shall the winter's foil be here; / Soon shall these icy ligatures unbind and melt--A little while,
Not heat flames up and consumes,
Not sea-waves hurry in and out,
Not the air delicious and dry, the air of ripe summer, bears lightly
along white down-balls of myriads of seeds,
Waited, sailing gracefully, to drop where they may;
Not these, O none of these more than the flames of me, consuming,
burning for his love whom I love,
O none more than I hurrying in and out;
Does the tide hurry, seeking something, and never give up? O I the same,
O nor down-balls nor perfumes, nor the high rain-emitting clouds,
are borne through the open air,
Any more than my soul is borne through the open air,
Wafted in all directions O love, for friendship, for you.
Soon shall the winter's foil be here; / Soon shall these icy ligatures unbind and melt--A little while,
You who celebrate bygones, / Who have explored the outward, the surfaces of the races, the life
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, / Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and
When I peruse the conquer'd fame of heroes and the victories of / mighty generals, I do not envy the generals,