 | The poems and prose writings of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield |  |
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PHANTASIE.
'T was the deep noon of night; I slept and dreamed;—
On the fair bosom of a lawn, methought,
Flowery and green, and girdled by fresh rills,
Silvery and musical, that purled along
In mellow cadence like the cloudless days
Of early youth and inexperienced love,
I lay in the soft sunlight, that did bloom
And wanton in the aromatic air
So tenderly transparent and so mild,
It floated o'er me as on angel wings.
The loveliest creatures were around me, flocks
Of birds, whose plumage in the pale blue sky
Glittered like stars through clouds, and whose gay songs
Like spirit voices fell upon the soul
Beautifully sweet and full of love and praise.
All the fair forms of nature were in joy,
And Earth was revelling in the smiles of Heaven.
My heart was rife with blessedness—I caught
The freshest bloom of opening buds and breathed
The odour of the poetry that flowed,
Like clearest waters, through unbounded realms,
And thought that yet my heart might trust in hope
Of days less evil than my birth star doomed.
On the fair bosom of a lawn, methought,
Flowery and green, and girdled by fresh rills,
Silvery and musical, that purled along
In mellow cadence like the cloudless days
Of early youth and inexperienced love,
I lay in the soft sunlight, that did bloom
And wanton in the aromatic air
So tenderly transparent and so mild,
It floated o'er me as on angel wings.
The loveliest creatures were around me, flocks
Of birds, whose plumage in the pale blue sky
Glittered like stars through clouds, and whose gay songs
Like spirit voices fell upon the soul
Beautifully sweet and full of love and praise.
All the fair forms of nature were in joy,
And Earth was revelling in the smiles of Heaven.
My heart was rife with blessedness—I caught
The freshest bloom of opening buds and breathed
The odour of the poetry that flowed,
Like clearest waters, through unbounded realms,
And thought that yet my heart might trust in hope
Of days less evil than my birth star doomed.
That vision passed; a wildering dream ensued:
Methought I had no being, and that all
The beautiful diversities and charms,
The panorama of this wondrous world,
Were but imagination's tricksy work,
The illusions of a Spirit malcontent,
To palpable appearances and shapes
Wrought by the magic of the mind to suit
The pilgrim wanderings and wayward freaks
Of my distempered mood. The mighty Sun,
Voyaging upon his bright and glorious way,
The fair, round melancholy Moon, the Stars,
The eyes of Heaven o'er all God's Universe,
The green and bloomy Earth—blest far beyond
The meed of its indwellers—all did seem
But phantoms of my thought, unreal things
To be dissolved like vain and feverish dreams.
Methought I had no being, and that all
The beautiful diversities and charms,
The panorama of this wondrous world,
Were but imagination's tricksy work,
The illusions of a Spirit malcontent,
330
Wrought by the magic of the mind to suit
The pilgrim wanderings and wayward freaks
Of my distempered mood. The mighty Sun,
Voyaging upon his bright and glorious way,
The fair, round melancholy Moon, the Stars,
The eyes of Heaven o'er all God's Universe,
The green and bloomy Earth—blest far beyond
The meed of its indwellers—all did seem
But phantoms of my thought, unreal things
To be dissolved like vain and feverish dreams.
Long, lingering hours of dim incertitude!
Now I was wedged amid the icy cliffs
And glaciers of Monadnock; now I heard
The sealike waters of Missouri roll
And rush and roar above me as I gasped
For breath and eddied with the torrent flood;
By Chimborazo's crater I was chain'd,
Doomed to the death of ages, while the fires
Wreathed round me in the terror of their pride.
Yet I was conscious of a sovereign power,
But could not grasp it, such a mountain lay
Upon my heart and bore me down to earth,
Like the all-potent one of olden time
Who wreaked on darkness his immortal might.
With unimagined pain I raised my eye,
That roll'd in agony's delirium,
On the strange unreality—the deep
And cloudy nothingness, and lo! around
A dark and rugged battlement that pierced
The midnight skies! gigantic forms and shapes
Titanic, sons of Anakim, came forth
On every jutting prominence, in mail
Of countless shekels, and their demon eyes
Flashed on my shuddering soul a hellish light,
Drinking the morning rose-dew of my heart.
Now I was wedged amid the icy cliffs
And glaciers of Monadnock; now I heard
The sealike waters of Missouri roll
And rush and roar above me as I gasped
For breath and eddied with the torrent flood;
By Chimborazo's crater I was chain'd,
Doomed to the death of ages, while the fires
Wreathed round me in the terror of their pride.
Yet I was conscious of a sovereign power,
But could not grasp it, such a mountain lay
Upon my heart and bore me down to earth,
Like the all-potent one of olden time
Who wreaked on darkness his immortal might.
With unimagined pain I raised my eye,
That roll'd in agony's delirium,
On the strange unreality—the deep
And cloudy nothingness, and lo! around
A dark and rugged battlement that pierced
The midnight skies! gigantic forms and shapes
Titanic, sons of Anakim, came forth
On every jutting prominence, in mail
Of countless shekels, and their demon eyes
Flashed on my shuddering soul a hellish light,
Drinking the morning rose-dew of my heart.
And thus I lay, it seemed unnumbered years,
And not a sound of earth broke forth; my voice
Sunk in my bosom like a burning rock
Thrown high o'er Ætna, that falls blazing down
The tomb of the wise Roman; and my breath
Burst forth in sobs—as every throb were last—
While my heart swelled in stifled agonies,
And my brain wandered—smitten by the fear
Of unknown, boundless, and eternal woe.
The spirit's sunlight left my eyes, and deep
Within their sockets burned remorseless fires,
But still I heard the fiends, in whispers low,
Mutter some terrible event to come,
And then a laugh smote on my quailing sense
Like the vast Kremlin's knell, when Moska flamed.
Then o'er me came a living death—a dream
Of life that had been, but was not—a faint
And twilight glimmering of dusky light
Amid the shapeless ruins of the soul.
And not a sound of earth broke forth; my voice
Sunk in my bosom like a burning rock
331
The tomb of the wise Roman; and my breath
Burst forth in sobs—as every throb were last—
While my heart swelled in stifled agonies,
And my brain wandered—smitten by the fear
Of unknown, boundless, and eternal woe.
The spirit's sunlight left my eyes, and deep
Within their sockets burned remorseless fires,
But still I heard the fiends, in whispers low,
Mutter some terrible event to come,
And then a laugh smote on my quailing sense
Like the vast Kremlin's knell, when Moska flamed.
Then o'er me came a living death—a dream
Of life that had been, but was not—a faint
And twilight glimmering of dusky light
Amid the shapeless ruins of the soul.
I rose and I beheld! The mind hath power,
When the sense slumbers in the deep of night,
Beyond its common majesty; it dares,
Endures, and acts with prouder strength than all
The martyrs and the giants of old time.
Still frowned the black and Alpine battlement,
That darkened o'er the heavens—still the forms
Moved in their fiery darkness round and round,
Silent as dark-robed, stern inquisitors.
The pale curl of their livid lips, the throes
Of voiceless pain that shook their shuddering limbs,
The upturned eyes that prayed not, and the brows
Scarr'd in a terrible strife, gave awful note
Of pride that triumphed o'er unuttered pain.
When the sense slumbers in the deep of night,
Beyond its common majesty; it dares,
Endures, and acts with prouder strength than all
The martyrs and the giants of old time.
Still frowned the black and Alpine battlement,
That darkened o'er the heavens—still the forms
Moved in their fiery darkness round and round,
Silent as dark-robed, stern inquisitors.
The pale curl of their livid lips, the throes
Of voiceless pain that shook their shuddering limbs,
The upturned eyes that prayed not, and the brows
Scarr'd in a terrible strife, gave awful note
Of pride that triumphed o'er unuttered pain.
* * * * * * * * *
There was a pause; and short and thick my breath
Hollowly quivered, and my heart stood still,
I lifted up my spirit, then, in prayer
For mercy; when a cloud of purple fire,
Like worlds on worlds consuming, glared above
The prison battlements, that gloomed on high,
And down it sank and turned the air to flame—
And all the world quaked loud! the azure skies,
The broidered curtains of the Universe,
Quivered as if they trembled to reveal
Mysteries most terrible and dread, and then
Tornadoes howled along the burning Vast—
And, at protracted intervals, a trump
Sounded along immensity so loud—
It seemed as if all nations of the dead
Had mingled all their voices in one blast!
Hollowly quivered, and my heart stood still,
I lifted up my spirit, then, in prayer
For mercy; when a cloud of purple fire,
Like worlds on worlds consuming, glared above
The prison battlements, that gloomed on high,
And down it sank and turned the air to flame—
332
The broidered curtains of the Universe,
Quivered as if they trembled to reveal
Mysteries most terrible and dread, and then
Tornadoes howled along the burning Vast—
And, at protracted intervals, a trump
Sounded along immensity so loud—
It seemed as if all nations of the dead
Had mingled all their voices in one blast!
My prayer was now for death—I found it not!
None meet the Spectre when their hearts desire,
He comes in silence when the world looks fair!
Now came a shock as though unnumbered worlds
Were driven to a centre, and the Earth
Rolled like a shallop on the Deep—the fiends
Shrieked, changed and vanished—and through bickering flames
Wide as the fathomless Atlantic, down,
Down, amid clouds of awful gloom I fell,
While blazing wings, outspread, shot o'er the gulf
Like wildest meteors, and ten thousand cries
Went up from depths no eye could ever scan.
Then through thick clouds of tempest glanced an arm,
Mighty and dark, and in its hand appeared
A burning scroll of fearful characters!
Then all was hushed; worlds upon worlds lay piled,
Pillowed in darkness! And my dream was o'er.
None meet the Spectre when their hearts desire,
He comes in silence when the world looks fair!
Now came a shock as though unnumbered worlds
Were driven to a centre, and the Earth
Rolled like a shallop on the Deep—the fiends
Shrieked, changed and vanished—and through bickering flames
Wide as the fathomless Atlantic, down,
Down, amid clouds of awful gloom I fell,
While blazing wings, outspread, shot o'er the gulf
Like wildest meteors, and ten thousand cries
Went up from depths no eye could ever scan.
Then through thick clouds of tempest glanced an arm,
Mighty and dark, and in its hand appeared
A burning scroll of fearful characters!
Then all was hushed; worlds upon worlds lay piled,
Pillowed in darkness! And my dream was o'er.
| The poems and prose writings of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield | |