 | Mansoul or The Riddle of the World |  |
They who, ín the dim Cathedral crofts, descend,
By lighted steps; may see fair chantries deckt,
With public banners and with private gifts;
Where sepulchres óf Gods knights and noble Dead.
Of whom some effigied ín enduring bronze;
Seem sleep, in their ring-kirtles, laid to rest.
By lighted steps; may see fair chantries deckt,
With public banners and with private gifts;
Where sepulchres óf Gods knights and noble Dead.
Of whom some effigied ín enduring bronze;
Seem sleep, in their ring-kirtles, laid to rest.
Without lies well-designed, fair cloister-garth;
For meditation and for quietness;
Of who those silent ambulatóries pace,
With tile-stones paved; them bordering wholesome herbs,
And cheerfulness óf glad flowers. In mídst whereof;
A fount of living waters wells, days haunt
Of ever-thirsting, over-flittering doves.
And there be leafy summer arbours made;
Cool havens óf green boughs, with well-entrailed,
Fresh clambering woodbind sweet, and roses blithe.
Where seats, for who, past years of Worldly tasks;
Must needs now rest.
For meditation and for quietness;
Of who those silent ambulatóries pace,
With tile-stones paved; them bordering wholesome herbs,
228
A fount of living waters wells, days haunt
Of ever-thirsting, over-flittering doves.
And there be leafy summer arbours made;
Cool havens óf green boughs, with well-entrailed,
Fresh clambering woodbind sweet, and roses blithe.
Where seats, for who, past years of Worldly tasks;
Must needs now rest.
Pass other ón the terrace:
Of líke aspiring looks: wont like hill-steeps
Essay to climb, which hitherto seldom trod;
With hardy foot. On whóm some kindred Muse,
Hath gracious breathed. That unto them is given,
With harmony and form, grace, passion, in their hearts;
To paint with hews on tables: shadowing forth,
Visions of their souls seeing, in Natures glass.
Of líke aspiring looks: wont like hill-steeps
Essay to climb, which hitherto seldom trod;
With hardy foot. On whóm some kindred Muse,
Hath gracious breathed. That unto them is given,
With harmony and form, grace, passion, in their hearts;
To paint with hews on tables: shadowing forth,
Visions of their souls seeing, in Natures glass.
Howbeit should many faint, midst golden tasks;
Were not, when fails them breath, they wont refresh
Them, at clear well-springs óf right poets' verse;
Men true of hearts intent, and unfeigned lips.
Were not, when fails them breath, they wont refresh
Them, at clear well-springs óf right poets' verse;
Men true of hearts intent, and unfeigned lips.
229
Again was I borne forth, mongst spírits' press.
And fell mongst some, from Worlds sunsetting parts:
Whose thicker air breathes strenuous vital blood;
With hardy understánding of mens minds;
To essáy and bring to pass main enterprises.
Mongst whom some ones debated, whiles they walked:
Whether Mans Reason wére, his only guide,
(Being that the measure of each Human mind;)
Sufficient tó right governance of our lives.
How might we attain, midst so much murk and smart;
To right discernment, wíth a clay-born mind!
And fell mongst some, from Worlds sunsetting parts:
Whose thicker air breathes strenuous vital blood;
With hardy understánding of mens minds;
To essáy and bring to pass main enterprises.
Mongst whom some ones debated, whiles they walked:
Whether Mans Reason wére, his only guide,
(Being that the measure of each Human mind;)
Sufficient tó right governance of our lives.
How might we attain, midst so much murk and smart;
To right discernment, wíth a clay-born mind!
Responded one, now ín his years' first force;
Whom ín magnanimous mould had Nature cast:
We, (a mote, ah! in infinite darkness,) waked from naught;
Till ín Etérnity, whence we issued forth;
We sleep again, resólved our fleshly being:
Should bear such constant mind, in steadfast breast;
As may in all vicissitudes, resist;
Blind buffets of the World and froward Fortune:
Forsaking nót, the while, heart-easing mirth;
Nor looking for Worlds griefs.
Whom ín magnanimous mould had Nature cast:
We, (a mote, ah! in infinite darkness,) waked from naught;
Till ín Etérnity, whence we issued forth;
We sleep again, resólved our fleshly being:
Should bear such constant mind, in steadfast breast;
As may in all vicissitudes, resist;
Blind buffets of the World and froward Fortune:
Forsaking nót, the while, heart-easing mirth;
Nor looking for Worlds griefs.
230
Anew went forth;
A company assembled, ín a further room:
I found, consulting fór the Public Weal:
Being some of those, whose faculty it is;
To know by proof the virtues of all saps,
Of herbs and roots; and wíth deft practic touch;
Distinguish fróm the whole, each únsound part;
And to every sóre apply meet remedies.
A company assembled, ín a further room:
I found, consulting fór the Public Weal:
Being some of those, whose faculty it is;
To know by proof the virtues of all saps,
Of herbs and roots; and wíth deft practic touch;
Distinguish fróm the whole, each únsound part;
And to every sóre apply meet remedies.
And whoso dóth most worthily exercise
That humane art, being therein throughly taught;
A comforter is, in chamber of the sick;
Ready of his skill: one who, with úrbane speech,
Giveth hope for sighs and sád infirmities.
That humane art, being therein throughly taught;
A comforter is, in chamber of the sick;
Ready of his skill: one who, with úrbane speech,
Giveth hope for sighs and sád infirmities.
And when descend contagions ón the Earth;
Sword of an angry Heaven and á great Death:
Those stand betwixt the Living and the Dead;
At peril of their own, to heal, to save.
But óf the event of souls released from flesh:
Can none of áll physicians certify aught.
Sword of an angry Heaven and á great Death:
Those stand betwixt the Living and the Dead;
At peril of their own, to heal, to save.
But óf the event of souls released from flesh:
Can none of áll physicians certify aught.
| Mansoul or The Riddle of the World | |