His Presence

I foreswore red wine

and the white;

I was whole,

I foreswore lover and love;

all delight

must come,

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I had said,

of the soul;

I waited impassioned,

alone and alert

in the night:

did he come?

I foreswore child and my home;

I said,

I will walk

to his most distant wood

for his laurel;

I wandered alone;

I said,

on the height I will find him;

I said,

he will come with the red

first pure light of the sun.

I read volume and tome

of old magic,

I made sign and cross-sign;

he must answer old magic;

he must know the old symbol:

I swear I will find him,

I will bind j

his power in a faggot,

a tree,

a stone,

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or a bush or a jar

of well-water,

I went far

'to old pilgrim sites

for that water;

I entreated the grove and the spring,

the bay-tree in flower;

I was wise on my way,

they said I was wise,

I was steeped in their lore,

I entreated his love,

I prayed him each hour;

I was sterile

and barren

and songless.

I came back:

he opened my door.