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142
FOREVER.
Their flight he watches with feathery joy,
As high over head is heard
The wild flock's cry,—then quick the boy
Wishes himself a bird.
As high over head is heard
The wild flock's cry,—then quick the boy
Wishes himself a bird.
The youthful man upon a peak,
Amid a mountain-throng,
Chafes at his limbs, so wingless weak,
While he riots the peaks among.
Amid a mountain-throng,
Chafes at his limbs, so wingless weak,
While he riots the peaks among.
143
The father and grandfather hies,
In thought, affection, will,
To his scattered progeny; but lies
His crippled body still.
In thought, affection, will,
To his scattered progeny; but lies
His crippled body still.
And what are these but dumb foresight
Of acts as yet unfreed,—
Shoots from a latent life, whose light
Foreshines the certain deed?
Of acts as yet unfreed,—
Shoots from a latent life, whose light
Foreshines the certain deed?
Shall the eye go where the man can not?
Shall thought or bolder dreams,
Whose range and reach are aye begot
By the soul that through them gleams?
Shall thought or bolder dreams,
Whose range and reach are aye begot
By the soul that through them gleams?
Does man's deep inward him bemock
With sham presentiment,
His heart with moony longings rock,
And nothing more be meant?
With sham presentiment,
His heart with moony longings rock,
And nothing more be meant?
144
Could malice strike from the great source
Of order, reason, love?
Does He give feeling, thought, and force,
To balk them from above?
Of order, reason, love?
Does He give feeling, thought, and force,
To balk them from above?
Dim prescience these, sweet prophecy,
Mysterious far foretelling
Of life disbodied, life to be
With will, with love aye welling;—
Mysterious far foretelling
Of life disbodied, life to be
With will, with love aye welling;—
Faint whisperings from the power that roofs
All being unfailingly,—
Soul-bidden promptings, hints, near proofs
Of immortality.
All being unfailingly,—
Soul-bidden promptings, hints, near proofs
Of immortality.
The present, past, and future clasp
Each other in a ring;
And if of one a link you grasp,
Through all a thrill you fling.
Each other in a ring;
And if of one a link you grasp,
Through all a thrill you fling.
145
They end not here our appetites,
On earth they but begin;
For though our bodies rot, their rights
Survive as bliss or sin.
On earth they but begin;
For though our bodies rot, their rights
Survive as bliss or sin.
A marriage deep without divorce
Is that of spirit and flesh,
And from the cold, relapsing corpse
Springs life forever fresh.
Is that of spirit and flesh,
And from the cold, relapsing corpse
Springs life forever fresh.
The body's members are no toys
For the soul's sublunar play;
But counters, that in griefs or joys
Sum what the soul must pay.
For the soul's sublunar play;
But counters, that in griefs or joys
Sum what the soul must pay.
How fruitful is the littleness
Wherewith our souls are vext,
When acorns of this world express
Oaks rooted in the next.
Wherewith our souls are vext,
When acorns of this world express
Oaks rooted in the next.
146
Aye, thus by thought and phrase we split
An intermelted whole;
But thought and phrase can sunder it
No more than speech the soul.
An intermelted whole;
But thought and phrase can sunder it
No more than speech the soul.
Our worlds are one, and one are we:
That still too close our glance
To mete this rounded unity,
Is the due of ignorance.
That still too close our glance
To mete this rounded unity,
Is the due of ignorance.
Could men foreknow that they will live,
And ever be themselves,
To the self a higher hold 't would give,
That sordidly now delves.
And ever be themselves,
To the self a higher hold 't would give,
That sordidly now delves.
To thought what height 't would lend, to spy
Beyond earth's finite seeing,
Life's littleness o'erbalanced by
Its magnitude of being!
Beyond earth's finite seeing,
Life's littleness o'erbalanced by
Its magnitude of being!
147
Our lusts and pampered tawdry needs
Pile dread upon the bier;
With them hard-hearted Christless creeds,
That brew the curse of fear.
Pile dread upon the bier;
With them hard-hearted Christless creeds,
That brew the curse of fear.
The man he feels no blast of age,
Is by no sickness torn:
After a long earth-pilgrimage
The clay coat 't is that 's worn.
Is by no sickness torn:
After a long earth-pilgrimage
The clay coat 't is that 's worn.
The spirit keeps its light, a flame
That aye illumineth
Earth-paths, as well as what we name
The shadowed vale of death.
That aye illumineth
Earth-paths, as well as what we name
The shadowed vale of death.
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