The Birds of Heaven

I gaze upon thee—

my tenderest, my sweet—

my eyes alight with heaven’s fire

my heart hot with one desire—

the radiant heights

the searchless depths

the dark-hidden chambers

the soft and secret flowers

of thy soul to know

we are cast upon the burning shore

of a lush and fragrant paradise

its peaks beyond our aching reach—

the waters, salty, churning

lap and lash the longing sands

and break upon the bitter rocks

with a constant rushing beat—

we thirst and taste

we taste and thirst—

our faces and fingers aflame

at the sudden sight and testing touch—

I gaze upon thee—

my tenderest, my sweet—

bare before my eager eyes—

as you belong to the universe

so I belong to you

and you to me—

my lovely trembling blossom—

all that is in you

is all I yearn to see

above our heads the nova bursts

catch its falling embers if we may—

our ardor lifts and lights us

to spheres of bliss above

where our souls shall soar and sing

like the birds of heaven

like all the stars of love

Steven Holland

September 13, 2013

Astronomy

We sought the stars—

The stars sought us—

Though mortal, we dared aspire

To knowledge of the heavens

Not for us the lesser earths

The diurnal complacent dream

No—for us the finer, rarer lights

Of love’s utmost constellations

We ascend the untrod galactic peaks

To gaze on the flowered earth below

We scale the heights of dawn Olympus

Nearer ecstatic gods than sullen men

We make our bed above the dreaming world

In one of heaven’s hidden chambers

We lie on clouds of starry bliss

The dim earth far below, forgot—

We reign together, my radiant

Beaming down upon the moon—

By what art or magic

Did we attain this sparkling height?

Not by silver chariot

Nor on Pegasus wings—

We saw the stars

In each other’s eyes

Steven Holland
September 21, 2013