Marsden Hartley

From “Sunlight Persuasions”

I

IF a clear delight visits you

Of an uncertain afternoon,

When you thought the time

For new delights was over for that day,

Say to yourself, who rule many a lost

Moment in this shadowy domain,

Saving it from its dusty grey perdition,

Say to yourself that is a flash

Of lightning from a so affectionate west,

Where the clear sky, that you know, resides.

The rainbow has crossed the desert once again.

I took the blade of bliss and notched it

In a roseate place.

It shed a crimson stream—

That was our flush of joy.

They will come

In the way they always come,

Swinging gilded fancies round your head.

So it is with surfaces.

They will walk around you

Adoringly,

Strip branches of their blooms for you—

Young carpets for young ways.

With me it is different.

Stars, when they strike

Edge to edge,

Make fierce resplendent fire.

I have lived with bright stone,

Burned like carnelian in the sun,

Myself;

Myself seen branches wither.

Carbon is a diamond—

It cuts the very crystal from the globe.

You are so beautiful

To listen.