In the midnight of darkness and terror, <br /> When I would grope nearer to God, <br />With my back to a record of error <br /> And the highway of sin I have trod, <br />There comes to me shapes I would banish – <br /> The shapes of the deeds I have done; <br />And I pray and I plead till they vanish – <br /> All vanish and leave me, save one. <br /> <br />That one, with a smile like the splendour <br /> Of the sun in the middle-day skies – <br />That one, with a spell that is tender – <br /> That one with a dream in her eyes – <br />Cometh close, in her rare southern beauty, <br /> Her languor, her indolent grace; <br />And my soul turns its back on its duty <br /> To live in the light of her face. <br /> <br />She touches my cheek, and I quiver – <br /> I tremble with exquisite pains; <br />She sighs – like an overcharged river <br /> My blood rushes on through my veins; <br />She smiles – and in mad-tiger fashion, <br /> As a she-tiger fondles her own, <br />I clasp her with fierceness and passion, <br /> And kiss her with shudder and groan. <br /> <br />Once more, in our love’s sweet beginning, <br /> I put away God and the World; <br />Once more, in the joys of our sinnings, <br /> Are the hopes of eternity hurled. <br />There is nothing my soul lacks or misses <br /> As I clasp the dream-shape to my breast; <br />In the passion and pain of her kisses <br /> Life blooms to its richest and best. <br /> <br />O ghost of dead sin unrelenting, <br /> Go back to the dust, and the sod! <br />Too dear and too sweet for repenting, <br /> Ye stand between me and my God. <br />If I, by the Throne, should behold you, <br /> Smiling up with those eyes loved so well, <br />Close, close in my arms I would fold you, <br /> And dropp with you down to sweet Hell!<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/delilah/
