The Secret Splendour

Helena—Two Visions

Moon-quarried tower before which marble Troy

Was a tiny transience, well worth throwing away—

Whiteness ineffable, drawing towards timeless joy

Man's arms through passioning night and longing day.

Did Menelaus enfold your secret light?

Did Paris plumb your radiant mystery?

They knew but longing day and passioning night:

The timeless splendour touched blind Homer's eye.

Once caught in the reverie-rapture of his heart,

Never from us the immortal You can part.

*

Only a troubled, brief, foreshadowing power

Was the proud beauty of your perilous life—

Nought save the far glint of a voyaging light

Glimpsed once before the plenary wonder struck

 The dreaming loneliness of Homer's brow.

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