* 15 * Life and Love (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Fast this Life of mine was dying,
Blind already and calm as death,
Snowflakes on her bosom lying
Scarely heaving with her breath.

Love came by, and having known her
In a dream of fabled lands,
Gently stooped, and laid upon her
Mystic chrism of holy hands;

Drew his smile across her folded
Eyelids, as the swallow dips;
Breathed as finely as the cold did
Through the locking of her lips.

So, when Life looked upward, being
Warmed and breathed on from above,
What sight could she have for seeing,
Evermore... but only LOVE?