Sagesse “16”
By H.D.
O, do not bring snow-water
but fresh snow;
I would be bathed with stars,
new fallen from heaven,
one with the cloud,
my forehead ringed
with icy frost, a crown;
let my mind flash with blades,
let thought return,
unravel the thick skein,
woven of tangled memory and desire,
lust of the body, hunger, cold and thirst;
our hidden lair has sanctified Virgo,
the lost, unsatisfied, the broken tryst,
the half-attained;
love built on dreams
of the forgotten first unsatisfied embrace,
is satisfied.
Copyright Credit: Hilda Doolittle, "Sagesse 16" from Hermetic Definition. Copyright © 1972 by Hilda Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Source: Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972)