Michael Villiers, Idealist And Other Poems. By E. H. Hickey |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. | VI |
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| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
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| XIII. |
| XIV. |
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 | Michael Villiers, Idealist |  |
43
VI
Now in the eager atmosphere that girds
Workers in London, he fell in with some
To whom his heart went out, as theirs to him.
Among them were the Guilfoys, a young pair
True-wed in soul and body; working hard,
Owning their souls in patience: at their rooms,
Three rooms they had, the nearest to the roof,
In Marylebone, he met some men whose hearts
Beat with a quickened pulse because of wrongs
Which drove them into thoughts and words of fire;
Wrongs not their own, but suffered by the men
Wrongs had embruted till they knew them not
From rights; and girls, and women, working hard
To help the world to find some kind of Christ,
Or individual or corporate,
Albeit many of them scorned that name,
Blurred with the breath of Christians who were none.
Workers in London, he fell in with some
To whom his heart went out, as theirs to him.
Among them were the Guilfoys, a young pair
True-wed in soul and body; working hard,
Owning their souls in patience: at their rooms,
Three rooms they had, the nearest to the roof,
In Marylebone, he met some men whose hearts
Beat with a quickened pulse because of wrongs
Which drove them into thoughts and words of fire;
Wrongs not their own, but suffered by the men
Wrongs had embruted till they knew them not
From rights; and girls, and women, working hard
To help the world to find some kind of Christ,
Or individual or corporate,
Albeit many of them scorned that name,
Blurred with the breath of Christians who were none.
44
The Man we need this nineteenth century
Is no enthusiast of the hollow jaws,
And fever-lighted eyes, and hectic flush
On the spare cheek, and slender blue-veined hands
The morbid soul beats through; not such as this,
No mediæval mystic, drained of blood,
And stript of flesh; all natural desires
Dazed in hysterica passio; he being fain
Annihilate the flesh and leave the soul
Calm in her freedom; cutting off his wings
To fly unhindered. Nay, O world of ours,
Not such as this must thy redeemer be!
Nor yet the man who sayeth in his heart,
There is no God, nor any need of Him:
Nor even he who knows the basal needs
Of body, soul, and spirit, and denies
No part of man: for more than this we cry!
Not even the stronger than the strong for us;
We need the Christ in man; not one strong man,
But a developed manhood; we must fight
And bear, before we get Him;—but, some day,
If so we grudge not freedom's heavy price,
Our loins shall teem with freeborn citizens,
Having the Christhood's glory on their heads.
Is no enthusiast of the hollow jaws,
And fever-lighted eyes, and hectic flush
On the spare cheek, and slender blue-veined hands
The morbid soul beats through; not such as this,
No mediæval mystic, drained of blood,
And stript of flesh; all natural desires
Dazed in hysterica passio; he being fain
Annihilate the flesh and leave the soul
Calm in her freedom; cutting off his wings
To fly unhindered. Nay, O world of ours,
Not such as this must thy redeemer be!
Nor yet the man who sayeth in his heart,
There is no God, nor any need of Him:
Nor even he who knows the basal needs
Of body, soul, and spirit, and denies
No part of man: for more than this we cry!
Not even the stronger than the strong for us;
We need the Christ in man; not one strong man,
But a developed manhood; we must fight
And bear, before we get Him;—but, some day,
If so we grudge not freedom's heavy price,
Our loins shall teem with freeborn citizens,
Having the Christhood's glory on their heads.
Roger and Annie Guilfoy, socialists,
So Michael's friends feared not to call themselves:
No socialists of the fire-and-thunder faith
Which thinks that streams of blood will wash the world,
But socialists who recognized in truth
And word and deed the brotherhood of man,
And lived to set it forth, and if the need
Should ever come to them, to die for it.
45
No socialists of the fire-and-thunder faith
Which thinks that streams of blood will wash the world,
But socialists who recognized in truth
And word and deed the brotherhood of man,
And lived to set it forth, and if the need
Should ever come to them, to die for it.
As well impute to Christianity
The Inquisition hand of blood and fire,
All savage slaughter in the name of Christ,
Murder and lust set free in garb of hell
To range the world He taught the law of love,
As blame true socialism for any sins
Of socialists. But it were vain to speak,
A cause being raised or lowered in its men.
Now God bless all true workers, let us pray:
The night-time cometh when we all must rest:
Strive we, and do, lest by-and-by we sit
In that blind life to which all other fate
Is cause for envy; with the naked souls
Who never lived, knowing nor praise nor blame,
But kept themselves in mean neutrality,
Hateful alike to God and to His foes.
The Inquisition hand of blood and fire,
All savage slaughter in the name of Christ,
Murder and lust set free in garb of hell
To range the world He taught the law of love,
As blame true socialism for any sins
Of socialists. But it were vain to speak,
A cause being raised or lowered in its men.
Now God bless all true workers, let us pray:
The night-time cometh when we all must rest:
Strive we, and do, lest by-and-by we sit
In that blind life to which all other fate
Is cause for envy; with the naked souls
Who never lived, knowing nor praise nor blame,
But kept themselves in mean neutrality,
Hateful alike to God and to His foes.
| Michael Villiers, Idealist | |