Seven Sets of Seven Songs, Set II , opus 29

You look at me with wan, bright eyes	
  When in the deeper world I stray:	
You fear some hidden ambush lies	
  In wait to call me, "Come away."
 
What if I see behind the veil
  Your starry self beseeching me,	
Or at its stern command grow pale,	
  "Let her be free, let her be free"?

Those delicate wanderers,
The wind, the star, the cloud,
Ever before mine eyes,
As to an altar bowed,
Light and dew-laden airs
Offer in sacrifice.
 
The offerings arise:
Hazes of rainbow light,
Pure crystal, blue, and gold,
Through dreamland take their flight;
And 'mid the sacrifice
God moveth as of old.
 
In miracles of fire
He symbols forth his days;
In gleams of crystal light
Reveals what pure pathways
Lead to the soul's desire,
The silence of the height.

When mine hour is come	
Let no teardrop fall	
And no darkness hover	
Round me where I lie.	
Let the vastness call
One who was its lover,	
Let me breathe the sky.	
 
Where the lordly light	
Walks along the world,	
And its silent tread
Leaves the grasses bright,	
Leaves the flowers uncurled,	
Let me to the dead	
Breathe a gay goodnight.

The sweetest song was ever sung	
  May soothe you but a little while:	
The gayest music ever rung	
  Shall yield you but a fleeting smile.	
 
The well I digged you soon shall pass:
  You may but rest with me an hour:	
Yet drink, I offer you the glass,	
  A moment of sustaining power,	
 
And give to you, if it be gain,	
  Whether in pleasure or annoy,
To see one elemental pain,	
  One light of everlasting joy.

Men have made them gods of love,
Sun-gods, givers of the rain,
Deities of hill and grove:
I have made a god of Pain.
 
Of my god I know this much,
And in singing I repeat,
Though there's anguish in his touch,
Yet his soul within is sweet.

I will not follow you, my bird,
  I will not follow you.
I would not breathe a word, my bird,
  To bring thee here anew.
 
I love the free in thee, my bird,
  The lure of freedom drew;
The light you fly toward, my bird,
  I fly with thee unto.
 
And there we yet will meet, my bird,
  Though far I go from you
Where in the light outpoured, my bird,
  Are love and freedom too.

The children were shouting together
And racing along the sands,
A glimmer of dancing shadows,
A dovelike flutter of hands.
 
The stars were shouting in heaven,
The sun was chasing the moon:
The game was the same as the children's,
They danced to the self-same tune.
 
The whole of the world was merry,
One joy from the vale to the height,
Where the blue woods of twilight encircled
The lovely lawns of the light.