The Heart's Assurance

Oh journey-man, oh journey-man,
before this endless belt began
Its cruel revolutions, you and she
Naked in Eden shook the apple tree.

Oh soldier lad, oh soldier lad,
Before the soul of things turned bad,
She offered you so modestly
A shining apple from the tree.

Oh lonely wife, oh lonely wife,
Before your lover left this life
He took you in his gentle arms.
How trivial then were Life's alarms.

And though Death taps down every street
Familiar as the postman on his beat,
Remember this, remember this,
That Life has trembled in a kiss
From Gensis to Genesis,
And what's transfigured will live on
Long after Death has come and gone.

O never trust the heart's assurance -
Trust only the heart's fear.
And what I'm saying is, Go back, my lovely -
Though you will never hear.

O never trust your pride of movement -
Trust only pride's distress.
The only holy limbs are the broken fingers
Still raised to praise and bless.

For the careless heart is bound with chains
And terribly cast down:
The beast of pride is hunted out
And baited through the town.

She in the hurling night
With lucid simple hands,
Stroked away his fright
Loosed his blood-soaked bands.

And seriously aware
Of the terror she caressed,
Drew his matted hair
Gladly to her breast.

And he who babbled Death
Shivered and grew still
In the meadows of her breath,
Restoring his dark will.

Nor did she ever stir
In the storm's calm centre
To feel the tail, hooves, fur
Of the god-faced centaur.

"He's in his grave and on his head
I dance," the lovely dancer said,
"My feet like fireflies illume
The choking blackness of his tomb."

"Had he not died we would have wed,
And still I'd dance," the dancer said,
"To keep the creeping sterile doom
Out of the darkness of my womb."

"Our love was always ringed with dread
Of death," the lovely dancer said,
"And so I danced for his delight
And scorched the blackened core of night
With passion bright," the dancer said -

"And now I dance to earn my bread."

Young men walking the open streets
Of death's republic, remember your lovers.

When you foresaw with vision prescient
The planet pain rising across your sky
We fused your sight in our soft burning beauty:
We laid you down in meaodws drunk with cowslips
And led you in the ways of our bright city.

Young men who wander death's vague meadows,
Remember your lovers who gave you more than flowers.

When you woke grave-chilled at midnight
To pace the pavement of your bitter dream
We brought you back to bed and brought you home
From the dark antechamber of desire
Into our lust as warm as candle-flame.

Young men who lie in the carven beds of death,
Remember your lovers who gave you more than dreams.

From the sun shelt'ring your careless head
Or from the painted devil your quick eye,
We led you out of terror tenderly
And fooled you into peace with our soft words
And gave you all we had and let you die.

Young men drunk with death's unquenchable wisdom,
Remember your lovers who gave you more than love.