SWAN OF PERFECT LOVE

 

(The Swan of Perfect Love is the inner bird which always guides the lover from one peak of love to the next. It finds him only on the summit of emotional love and reveals a path of platonic purity, traversing the heights of adoration toward ultimate communion with the enthralling All. In external appearance, the Swan can wear any face and bear any name, but for the eyes of the lover It always appears as Beatrice to the Dante in each of us. And so...)

 

There is something yours in stainless snow:
Its heat withdrawn in whiteness,
Its heart-expanse enthralling Cold
With warmth of purity,
Its bright soul-glow of crystal-foam
Embalming all in heaven’ blankness,
Its ambrosial moon-perfection...

There is something yours in perfect snow:
A promise of perfect peace to come,
Of perfect faith to grow
From peak to peak of dazzling Knowledge,
O Swan of Perfect Love,
Bird-enchanting sweetness,
Moon-limbed stillness.

There is something snow-wild ensouling you:
What flame of God, what Mystery is it
Driving me to mystic madness?