| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 279. Sibylline |
| By Madison Julius Cawein (1865–1914) |
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| THERE is a glory in the apple boughs | |
| Of silver moonlight; like a torch of myrrh, | |
| Burning upon an altar of sweet vows, | |
| Dropped from the hand of some wan worshipper: | |
| And there is life among the apple blooms | 5 |
| Of whisp’ring winds; as if a god addressed | |
| The flamen from the sanctuary glooms | |
| With secrets of the bourne that hope hath guessed, | |
| Saying: ‘Behold! a darkness which illumes, | |
| A waking which is rest.’ | 10 |
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| There is a blackness in the apple trees | |
| Of tempest; like the ashes of an urn | |
| Hurt hands have gathered upon blistered knees, | |
| With salt of tears, out of the flames that burn: | |
| And there is death among the blooms, that fill | 15 |
| The night with breathless scent,—as when, above | |
| The priest, the vision of his faith doth will | |
| Forth from his soul the beautiful form thereof,— | |
| Saying: ‘Behold! a silence never still; | |
| The other form of love.’ | 20 |
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