 | Elegies and memorials |  |
27
POEMS BY L.
THE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES.
I
Of all the planets yearning—as they runIn magic round still ending, still begun—
To break the spell that holds them from the sun,
Does any guard the secret of all things?
Does some Star Emperor, other than the one
To which the lark sweet adoration sings,
Draw wiser worlds than ours around his throne?
Or must our hope still further stretch its wings
On to that Point of Mystery, unknown
Magnet of all the suns whose fiery cars
Whirl myriads after them of unimagined stars?
II
Or seek the Cause of Causes far behind,The grave-clothes of a dateless past unwind,
28
Which knew not what we know? Say, can we reach,
By footprints faint as these, the Master-mind?
What though primeval atoms dumbly teach
The law of change, which, ere life yet began,
Gave form to formless matter,—can they preach
Of aught that's older than themselves to Man?
Reveal a Presence greater than we see,
Greater than all we are and all we hope to be?
III
Perchance, perchance at last, his toils and tears,The long death-grapple of his hopes and fears,
And wisdom martyred all the countless years,—
Through deepening soul and heart's enlarged embrace,
And Duty owned sole star of worshippers,—
Shall this day's type of half-formed man efface,
(What time the wrangling Oracles are dumb)
To set the crown of Godhead on our race,
And work the nobler miracles to come.
In vain for ages long we seek a sign
Of any God on earth, till Man becomes divine.
29
LAMENTATIONS.
I.
Oh, that my head were waters,
And fountains were mine eyes,
For all thy sons and daughters,
Thou world of sins and sighs!
Oh, that my heart might speak before it breaks and dies!
And fountains were mine eyes,
For all thy sons and daughters,
Thou world of sins and sighs!
Oh, that my heart might speak before it breaks and dies!
Through Youth, through Age, through each
Dead Conscience in its turn,
Wisdom that will not teach,
Folly that will not learn,
Through man and woman too, my words should pierce and burn.
Dead Conscience in its turn,
Wisdom that will not teach,
Folly that will not learn,
Through man and woman too, my words should pierce and burn.
Alas for Youth! because
The heart of Youth is old;
It thrills not for a cause,
But, arrogantly cold,
Turns from the fiery summons as a tale twice told.
The heart of Youth is old;
It thrills not for a cause,
But, arrogantly cold,
Turns from the fiery summons as a tale twice told.
30
The holy dangerous ray
It shuns, to join the press
That throngs the gaslit way
Of bare and hard success,
And sinks at last, unmissed, to night and nothingness.
It shuns, to join the press
That throngs the gaslit way
Of bare and hard success,
And sinks at last, unmissed, to night and nothingness.
Oh, thou that wouldst not soar,
Methinks 'twere nobler done
To rise, as rose of yore
Resplendent Phaethon,
And fall—but fall, like him, a rival of the sun!
Methinks 'twere nobler done
To rise, as rose of yore
Resplendent Phaethon,
And fall—but fall, like him, a rival of the sun!
And if I sigh for Age
Because it is too late,
Because it has grown sage,
But cannot mend its fate,
And knows not what Life is till Death is at the gate,
Because it is too late,
Because it has grown sage,
But cannot mend its fate,
And knows not what Life is till Death is at the gate,
Still more for Age I mourn
Because it is afraid,
With all its vows forsworn,
The world's great cause to aid,
And thinks man will not change, but be as he was made.
Because it is afraid,
With all its vows forsworn,
The world's great cause to aid,
And thinks man will not change, but be as he was made.
31
And Love—man's doom and jest—
What hast thou here to do?
In such disguises dressed,
We know not false from true;
We trust the world to thee, and thou betrayst it too.
What hast thou here to do?
In such disguises dressed,
We know not false from true;
We trust the world to thee, and thou betrayst it too.
Love frivolous and vain,
Love coldly overwise,
Love sensual and profane,
And worshipper of lies—
Traitor, depart from us! True love, awake, arise!
Love coldly overwise,
Love sensual and profane,
And worshipper of lies—
Traitor, depart from us! True love, awake, arise!
II.
For Woman most my tears
Should set Man's heart on fire,
Whose love and threats and jeers
Have made of her a liar,
That paints her very soul, to win the world's desire.
Should set Man's heart on fire,
Whose love and threats and jeers
Have made of her a liar,
That paints her very soul, to win the world's desire.
Oh, Earth! Earth! Mother Earth!
Rise, call upon thy son!—
“I bare twain at a birth,
And thee, the stronger one—
With her I gave to thee, tell me what hast thou done?
Rise, call upon thy son!—
“I bare twain at a birth,
And thee, the stronger one—
With her I gave to thee, tell me what hast thou done?
32
“When, fresh from Nature's arms,
She first clasped hands with thee,
Her noble infant charms
Announced a queen to be,
Wise, beautiful, and pure, and brave as are the free.
She first clasped hands with thee,
Her noble infant charms
Announced a queen to be,
Wise, beautiful, and pure, and brave as are the free.
“Thou madst this queen thy slave,
In falsehood, fear, and shame;
The best her mother gave
Was counted her for blame,
And Fame suborned to make a by-word of her name.
In falsehood, fear, and shame;
The best her mother gave
Was counted her for blame,
And Fame suborned to make a by-word of her name.
“Reared up to toil by blows,
Her childhood pined in fears,
Until, at last, a rose
Of beauty, as the years
Went forward, smiled upon the cruel world through tears.
Her childhood pined in fears,
Until, at last, a rose
Of beauty, as the years
Went forward, smiled upon the cruel world through tears.
“Then, crowned and chained and scorned,
When first her head she raised,
A strange new lustre warned
Her master, as he gazed,
That in her eyes a spirit waked and watched, amazed;
When first her head she raised,
A strange new lustre warned
Her master, as he gazed,
That in her eyes a spirit waked and watched, amazed;
33
“Against its bars to beat,
With plumage blood-besprent,
Then flutter to his feet,
A guiltless penitent,
And kneel to him for pardon, praise, and punishment.
With plumage blood-besprent,
Then flutter to his feet,
A guiltless penitent,
And kneel to him for pardon, praise, and punishment.
“Rebellious and reviled,
Or crouching and caressed,
A goddess or a child,
But still a slave confessed,
Caged in the jealous East, toy-sceptred in the West;
Or crouching and caressed,
A goddess or a child,
But still a slave confessed,
Caged in the jealous East, toy-sceptred in the West;
“Alike the tale hath been
To-day and long of yore;
The dazzling Eastern queen,
Bending her lord before,
With rubies all a-tremble, and forehead to the floor,
To-day and long of yore;
The dazzling Eastern queen,
Bending her lord before,
With rubies all a-tremble, and forehead to the floor,
“Still mirrors in old story
My nobler daughter, taught
To bow down all her glory
Of free-born will and thought
Before a spectral terror, conjured out of nought.
My nobler daughter, taught
To bow down all her glory
Of free-born will and thought
Before a spectral terror, conjured out of nought.
34
“Thou claim'st to be her god,
To rule her inmost shrine
Of conscience with thy rod;
Thy mockery is her sign
From Heaven that she hath sinned—against thy laws divine.
To rule her inmost shrine
Of conscience with thy rod;
Thy mockery is her sign
From Heaven that she hath sinned—against thy laws divine.
“But what of Her that fell
To shameless shame for thee?
Hark! from that hidden Hell
Her cry has risen to me,—
How long, oh deaf and blind, how long shall these things be?
To shameless shame for thee?
Hark! from that hidden Hell
Her cry has risen to me,—
How long, oh deaf and blind, how long shall these things be?
“Her soul, that sobs away,
Still, still a wasted breath,
Her heart, that day by day
Bleeds bitterly to death,
While writhing that gay mask of dauntless sin beneath.
Still, still a wasted breath,
Her heart, that day by day
Bleeds bitterly to death,
While writhing that gay mask of dauntless sin beneath.
“No more, no more for Her
Let Earth cry out in vain;
My depths are all astir,
And every pulse is pain,—
Rise up, a nobler Brother, loose thy Sister's chain!”
Let Earth cry out in vain;
My depths are all astir,
And every pulse is pain,—
Rise up, a nobler Brother, loose thy Sister's chain!”
35
A REQUIEM.
On reading some verses about a poor woman seen carrying the coffin of her infant in her arms to the burial.
So too, dead darlings of the past
By disappointed souls are borne
Beneath a sky not less forlorn,
Across as desolate a waste.
By disappointed souls are borne
Beneath a sky not less forlorn,
Across as desolate a waste.
To no triumphant requiem,
Some love or faith or fancied-crown
Of genius we at last lay down,
And in deep silence bury them.
Some love or faith or fancied-crown
Of genius we at last lay down,
And in deep silence bury them.
Perhaps for years we watched them die,
Perhaps they died before we knew;
Perhaps a violet or two
May yet spring up from where they lie.
Perhaps they died before we knew;
Perhaps a violet or two
May yet spring up from where they lie.
Ah! some have laid their dead in earth
Where gardens redden o'er with bloom,
To flower from many a magic tomb
Into some new and lovelier birth.
Where gardens redden o'er with bloom,
To flower from many a magic tomb
Into some new and lovelier birth.
36
There the first passion of the boy,
Buried with all its beauteous folly,
Sublimes to true love's melancholy,
Or true love's vivifying joy.
Buried with all its beauteous folly,
Sublimes to true love's melancholy,
Or true love's vivifying joy.
There rise the nobler dreams of youth,
From childhood's fancies cast aside;
Beliefs that had their day and died
Grow thence to grander forms of truth.
From childhood's fancies cast aside;
Beliefs that had their day and died
Grow thence to grander forms of truth.
But they who drop by slow degrees,
Gifted in vain, the best they have
Deep in a cold and barren grave—
What shall we say to comfort these?
Gifted in vain, the best they have
Deep in a cold and barren grave—
What shall we say to comfort these?
That happier selves shall gather flowers
From hopes we sowed in ground that seemed
So barren?—fairy tales we dreamed
Be true of other lives than ours?
From hopes we sowed in ground that seemed
So barren?—fairy tales we dreamed
Be true of other lives than ours?
That poems and that pictures, pent
Once in our souls, shall yet escape,
And in some new transcendant shape
Attain their full accomplishment?
Once in our souls, shall yet escape,
And in some new transcendant shape
Attain their full accomplishment?
37
Pray for all souls that mourn their dead—
Pray for all souls that they may see
A light from the great time to be
Already streak the East with red.
Pray for all souls that they may see
A light from the great time to be
Already streak the East with red.
Behind whose twilight wait unseen
A perfect earth, perfected man,
To finish all that we began,
To be what we would fain have been.
A perfect earth, perfected man,
To finish all that we began,
To be what we would fain have been.
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