The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
Therefore seeing ever clearlier that the time has come at last
For one frail man's giant protest, I have summoned up the past
—I have written, since I saw the fatal ring upon her hand,
Plainly all our strange sad story, that the world may understand.
For one frail man's giant protest, I have summoned up the past
—I have written, since I saw the fatal ring upon her hand,
Plainly all our strange sad story, that the world may understand.
255
In the long week since I saw it, that clear token of our doom,
I have relived all the stages, seen the sunlight, felt the gloom,
Every scene and every trifle have endeavoured to recall.
I alone knew all the sorrow. Now the world shall know it all.
I have relived all the stages, seen the sunlight, felt the gloom,
Every scene and every trifle have endeavoured to recall.
I alone knew all the sorrow. Now the world shall know it all.
I will leave the story written, signed and sealed, within my desk,
Then will rise up fierce for action, calm no longer, statuesque
Now no longer—not a statue, but a living breathing frame
Wild for wrestle with the Author of the sin, the woe, the shame.
Then will rise up fierce for action, calm no longer, statuesque
Now no longer—not a statue, but a living breathing frame
Wild for wrestle with the Author of the sin, the woe, the shame.
Even now I feel within me strange swift heart-throbs of relief,
Somewhat even of exultation, triumph born of deadliest grief;
Even now I see before me as it were with prophet's glance
All the future made the present, known, experienced, in advance.
Somewhat even of exultation, triumph born of deadliest grief;
Even now I see before me as it were with prophet's glance
All the future made the present, known, experienced, in advance.
I will steer into the Atlantic: Fate has wrecked and ruined me—
I will form a last alliance with the thunder of the sea.
Heaven has failed, aye God has failed me—Christ has failed me in my need;
But the sea's heart still is left me, with the sea's heart I will plead.
I will form a last alliance with the thunder of the sea.
Heaven has failed, aye God has failed me—Christ has failed me in my need;
But the sea's heart still is left me, with the sea's heart I will plead.
256
I will steer into the sunset: as that sunset years ago
Bathed the world for me and Annie in its loving golden glow,
As that sunset flashed before us with the radiance of a dream,
Now another spotless sunset shall deliver and redeem.
Bathed the world for me and Annie in its loving golden glow,
As that sunset flashed before us with the radiance of a dream,
Now another spotless sunset shall deliver and redeem.
For this girl—another Annie—now another sunset waits:
Yea, the sunset shall receive her in its fiery golden gates.
All the fairy guards are waiting, far behind the walls of flame;
For long years they have been waiting for their queen who never came.
Yea, the sunset shall receive her in its fiery golden gates.
All the fairy guards are waiting, far behind the walls of flame;
For long years they have been waiting for their queen who never came.
But their pure queen now is coming; let the fairy bugles blow!
Let the fairies line the roadway! let the news fly to and fro!
Let there be a stir, a bustle, through the fairies' wide domain,
For the queen they've lost for ages is returning home again.
Let the fairies line the roadway! let the news fly to and fro!
Let there be a stir, a bustle, through the fairies' wide domain,
For the queen they've lost for ages is returning home again.
Stately, noble, pure and queenly, full of girlish grace and charm,
With God's genius as a sculptor shown in curve of throat and arm,
With God's holier sense of sweetness in her maiden heart made known,
She is coming, she for ever is returning to her own.
With God's genius as a sculptor shown in curve of throat and arm,
With God's holier sense of sweetness in her maiden heart made known,
She is coming, she for ever is returning to her own.
257
She, returning, will be with us now for evermore, and bring
As the golden gates she enters such a sudden sense of spring
As on earth we feel when Winter with one foot yet on the wold
Starts and trembles, as the furze-shoots flash their sudden spears of gold.
As the golden gates she enters such a sudden sense of spring
As on earth we feel when Winter with one foot yet on the wold
Starts and trembles, as the furze-shoots flash their sudden spears of gold.
She, returning, will be with us—lo! the golden sunset waits:
She will enter far within it, far beyond the golden gates.
She will traverse the old region, she its everlasting queen,
With a sovereignty of splendour never witnessed in her mien.
She will enter far within it, far beyond the golden gates.
She will traverse the old region, she its everlasting queen,
With a sovereignty of splendour never witnessed in her mien.
With a sovereignty of sweetness now within the queenly eyes
She will traverse the old region, see the mountain land that lies
Far beyond the fairy borders, which no eye of man has seen,—
She the eternal perfect ruler, she the eternal sinless queen.
She will traverse the old region, see the mountain land that lies
Far beyond the fairy borders, which no eye of man has seen,—
She the eternal perfect ruler, she the eternal sinless queen.
Once again the golden sunset—once again, then never more—
Shall flash out with heaven's own brilliance all along the Cornish shore.
Here, where Tristram at Tintagel sinned with Iseult at his side,
To the sunset, to the Atlantic, I will bring a sinless bride.
Shall flash out with heaven's own brilliance all along the Cornish shore.
Here, where Tristram at Tintagel sinned with Iseult at his side,
To the sunset, to the Atlantic, I will bring a sinless bride.
258
Here, where Arthur's endless vigil of wild sorrow was begun,
I will end all mortal sorrow; it shall set as sets the sun.
It shall vanish in the sunset, it shall vanish in the sea;
It shall vanish in the radiance of the sky's immensity.
I will end all mortal sorrow; it shall set as sets the sun.
It shall vanish in the sunset, it shall vanish in the sea;
It shall vanish in the radiance of the sky's immensity.
What the Lord God failed in doing when he placed upon the hand
Of the world her ring of wedding, and espoused the sea and land,
I a mortal, I so erring, will accomplish by my might:
I will end the pain of living, pain shall vanish in a night.
Of the world her ring of wedding, and espoused the sea and land,
I a mortal, I so erring, will accomplish by my might:
I will end the pain of living, pain shall vanish in a night.
Pain shall vanish—for, a mortal, I can show the immortal road
That not even Christ's brave footstep in its fullest grandeur showed:
I can add to Jesus' gospel; I can follow where he went;
I can bring on earth the silence of a measureless content.
That not even Christ's brave footstep in its fullest grandeur showed:
I can add to Jesus' gospel; I can follow where he went;
I can bring on earth the silence of a measureless content.
I can take this woman holding as it were within her womb
A vast power of sorrow endless, endless summers' dying bloom,
Endless souls unhinged by anguish, boundless agonies to be,—
I can plunge the mortal mother in the vast womb of the sea.
A vast power of sorrow endless, endless summers' dying bloom,
Endless souls unhinged by anguish, boundless agonies to be,—
I can plunge the mortal mother in the vast womb of the sea.
259
I can stay a million curses and avert a million pangs:
Grief, men fancied, was immortal—I can blunt grief's deadly fangs.
Men will follow where I lead them: I will lead them to the deep,
To the sea of vast oblivion, to the shores of endless sleep.
Grief, men fancied, was immortal—I can blunt grief's deadly fangs.
Men will follow where I lead them: I will lead them to the deep,
To the sea of vast oblivion, to the shores of endless sleep.
There all sorrow shall be ended, and the whole race shall atone
For the crime of its creation and revert without a groan,
Nay with one wild hymn of triumph, to the unconscious ecstasy
Of the fields no ploughshare furrows and the unfurrowed shipless sea.
For the crime of its creation and revert without a groan,
Nay with one wild hymn of triumph, to the unconscious ecstasy
Of the fields no ploughshare furrows and the unfurrowed shipless sea.
That was joy and life unfailing, free from conscious life's despair;
Then the pale moon swam in silence through the sorrowless blue air:
Then the soul that gazes downward from the red depths of the sun
Watched the earth, yet saw no evil, for no human deed was done.
Then the pale moon swam in silence through the sorrowless blue air:
Then the soul that gazes downward from the red depths of the sun
Watched the earth, yet saw no evil, for no human deed was done.
260
That was rapture for creation! then the golden lonely stars
Tilted not with rays immortal at our mortal prison bars:
Then they saw no prisoner dying on his silent couch,—they heard
Neither battle's shout of triumph nor the lover's whispered word.
Tilted not with rays immortal at our mortal prison bars:
Then they saw no prisoner dying on his silent couch,—they heard
Neither battle's shout of triumph nor the lover's whispered word.
Love was waiting to destroy us,—but love had not dawned on earth.
All the sea laughed out unconscious, through its voice rang thoughtless mirth:
Not the mirth it caught from Venus when she sprang from waves that smiled;
Not the laughter of the lover, but the laughter of the child.
All the sea laughed out unconscious, through its voice rang thoughtless mirth:
Not the mirth it caught from Venus when she sprang from waves that smiled;
Not the laughter of the lover, but the laughter of the child.
Love was waiting to destroy us,—but as yet the world was free.
Lovers loved not on the ocean for no ships sailed on the sea:
Lovers loved not in the forests, and the lone hills watched the moon
Trodden not by feet of lovers; loveless were the fields of June.
Lovers loved not on the ocean for no ships sailed on the sea:
Lovers loved not in the forests, and the lone hills watched the moon
Trodden not by feet of lovers; loveless were the fields of June.
261
That was peace and pleasure perfect; that great peace I will restore.
Love shall vanish from the mountains, love shall die out on the shore.
I, the preacher of the gospel of despair and boundless gloom,
Will restore the world its silence, and its empire to the tomb.
Love shall vanish from the mountains, love shall die out on the shore.
I, the preacher of the gospel of despair and boundless gloom,
Will restore the world its silence, and its empire to the tomb.
Men shall follow my example: step by step the world will cease
To run madly after pleasure, and will long alone for peace.
Then the cornfields will be weed-grown: who will care to reap the corn
When man views himself with hatred and the whole of life with scorn?
To run madly after pleasure, and will long alone for peace.
Then the cornfields will be weed-grown: who will care to reap the corn
When man views himself with hatred and the whole of life with scorn?
Man shall wreak at last his vengeance—as I wreak my vengeance, I,
Steering out into the darkness, for the sun has left the sky;
Bearing with me this one woman—would Fate lower her and deprave?
Her at least he shall not conquer—her at least my hand shall save.
Steering out into the darkness, for the sun has left the sky;
Bearing with me this one woman—would Fate lower her and deprave?
Her at least he shall not conquer—her at least my hand shall save.
262
Though I could not save the mother, is not she the mother now,
With the same young strange pure sweetness in the eyes and on the brow?
All the long sad years have vanished—Lo! love rises from its grave:
I may save from black pollution her I would have died to save.
With the same young strange pure sweetness in the eyes and on the brow?
All the long sad years have vanished—Lo! love rises from its grave:
I may save from black pollution her I would have died to save.
Not in London shall she perish: now our bridal couch shall be
Pure and sweet and holy and stainless, even the holy and stainless sea.
She whom once I loved in London, where I loved her for an hour,
Shall be mine in love immortal, far beyond Fate's lurid power.
Pure and sweet and holy and stainless, even the holy and stainless sea.
She whom once I loved in London, where I loved her for an hour,
Shall be mine in love immortal, far beyond Fate's lurid power.
This is nobler, this ends better than the sad old tale began;
This is worthier of my passion, this is worthier of a man.
Now the tender night is coming, and the stars will light our way
To the room where death is bridegroom, not the room where once we lay.
This is worthier of my passion, this is worthier of a man.
Now the tender night is coming, and the stars will light our way
To the room where death is bridegroom, not the room where once we lay.
263
I am death her perfect bridegroom, we are on the lonely deep:
Now the night eternal waits us, we have many an hour for sleep;
Sweet long hours for sleep, my darling—there's no footstep at the door!
Nay, the winds and waves shall guard us, we are many a league from shore.
Now the night eternal waits us, we have many an hour for sleep;
Sweet long hours for sleep, my darling—there's no footstep at the door!
Nay, the winds and waves shall guard us, we are many a league from shore.
We are lonely at last together, we have left the adulterous land:
Lo! our solemn marriage-chamber, lo! our spotless couch at hand.
You and I are all alone, love—mortal sounds have died away;
Hear the stars' song to the ocean! hear the wind's voice to the spray!
Lo! our solemn marriage-chamber, lo! our spotless couch at hand.
You and I are all alone, love—mortal sounds have died away;
Hear the stars' song to the ocean! hear the wind's voice to the spray!
Lest our deep calm should be troubled, lest our marriage should be marred,
God has sent the unnumbered armies of the deathless stars to guard:
That our rapture may be endless and our souls past waking one
He has darkened earth for ever, he has slain the intrusive sun.
God has sent the unnumbered armies of the deathless stars to guard:
That our rapture may be endless and our souls past waking one
He has darkened earth for ever, he has slain the intrusive sun.
264
Lest I find you all too lovely, he has sent the moon to show
With her soft light for the first time your uncovered breast of snow:
Lest I scorn all flowers for ever when your first kiss startles me,
He has left the flowers on land, love—he has set us on the sea.
With her soft light for the first time your uncovered breast of snow:
Lest I scorn all flowers for ever when your first kiss startles me,
He has left the flowers on land, love—he has set us on the sea.
Lest the roses all be envious, he has made your mouth a rose;
He has left a thousand blossoms on the cliff-sides in repose,
He has given ephemeral fragrance to the flowers, ephemeral bliss,
He will make the rose eternal in the sweetness of your kiss.
He has left a thousand blossoms on the cliff-sides in repose,
He has given ephemeral fragrance to the flowers, ephemeral bliss,
He will make the rose eternal in the sweetness of your kiss.
Lest the thought of an invasion of our joy should e'er intrude,
Any thought of old dead cities, he has given us solitude:
Lest a dream of other beings should bring sadness to your face,
He has ended other life, love, he has slain the human race.
Any thought of old dead cities, he has given us solitude:
Lest a dream of other beings should bring sadness to your face,
He has ended other life, love, he has slain the human race.
He has had at last great mercy, he has given us bliss divine,
Perfect death for you and me, love—life in death, for you are mine.
Ours will be the last embrace, love: on this white-waved ocean-plain
One last rapture superhuman shall end superhuman pain.
Perfect death for you and me, love—life in death, for you are mine.
265
One last rapture superhuman shall end superhuman pain.
All the rapture of the passion that from Eve's first soft kiss ran
Like a torrent, like a fire-flood, through the throbbing veins of man,
All the raptures of old history, shall be gathered into ours,
As the rose resumes the fragrance of a million nameless flowers.
Like a torrent, like a fire-flood, through the throbbing veins of man,
All the raptures of old history, shall be gathered into ours,
As the rose resumes the fragrance of a million nameless flowers.
That is mightiest compensation—thus to loose within our veins
The full torrent of past passion, and to fix the past in chains:
Thus to bind the world for ever, but to set two lovers free,—
Then to send a world's kiss pressing through your single mouth to me.
The full torrent of past passion, and to fix the past in chains:
Thus to bind the world for ever, but to set two lovers free,—
Then to send a world's kiss pressing through your single mouth to me.
This is noblest compensation—to put out the human race,
But to leave the love-light burning through your eyes and in my face
—Thus to let us feel our oneness, I with you, and you with me,
And your oneness with the starlight, and my oneness with the sea.
But to leave the love-light burning through your eyes and in my face
—Thus to let us feel our oneness, I with you, and you with me,
And your oneness with the starlight, and my oneness with the sea.
266
Place this once, my stainless darling, your pure lips upon my own:
These at least are wholly sinless, these at least are mine alone.
Now let sweet death seal the marriage! when two souls are one at last
Then death's darkness is not darkness, for the power of death is past.
These at least are wholly sinless, these at least are mine alone.
Now let sweet death seal the marriage! when two souls are one at last
Then death's darkness is not darkness, for the power of death is past.
Not to-morrow shall we, waking, hear the wheels of London roll,
You with sin's kiss on your whiteness, I with madness in my soul:
Nay, for ever now around us let the vast night's curtains be!
We are safe within the darkness; we are safe within the sea.
You with sin's kiss on your whiteness, I with madness in my soul:
Nay, for ever now around us let the vast night's curtains be!
We are safe within the darkness; we are safe within the sea.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |