 | The poetical works of Lucy Larcom |  |
MOUNT MORIAH FROM BETHEL.
The mountains, gazed at from afar,
Take shape of our imaginings;
Outspread beyond this valley are
A lifted pair of purple wings,
That bear my thoughts away, away,
I know not whither, day by day.
Take shape of our imaginings;
Outspread beyond this valley are
A lifted pair of purple wings,
That bear my thoughts away, away,
I know not whither, day by day.
Behind them, two gray pyramids
Cut sharp and deep the western sky,
With one pale summit, that forbids
His brother peaks to climb too high,
Because he will have mate nor peer
His lonely tryst with heaven to hear.
Cut sharp and deep the western sky,
With one pale summit, that forbids
His brother peaks to climb too high,
Because he will have mate nor peer
His lonely tryst with heaven to hear.
300
These are the heights that crown the land;
Step after step, their slopes descend
Out of the clouds, a stairway grand,
Until with common earth they blend,
Where the broad meadow spreads before
Their bases, like an emerald floor.
Step after step, their slopes descend
Out of the clouds, a stairway grand,
Until with common earth they blend,
Where the broad meadow spreads before
Their bases, like an emerald floor.
The men who tilled these fields of old,
Called the place Bethel: well might seem
That mountain stairway to unfold
The ladder set in Jacob's dream;
And the wide pinions outlined there,
An angel's, winnowing the air.
Called the place Bethel: well might seem
That mountain stairway to unfold
The ladder set in Jacob's dream;
And the wide pinions outlined there,
An angel's, winnowing the air.
The farther summits proudly oft
Retreat in clouds, and mist, and rain,
Leaving those great wings poised aloft:
Forward they bend, with steadfast strain,
As if to bear on through the sky
Some burden of glad mystery.
Retreat in clouds, and mist, and rain,
Leaving those great wings poised aloft:
Forward they bend, with steadfast strain,
As if to bear on through the sky
Some burden of glad mystery.
And sometimes of their shape is left
Only one vigorous, broken line,
Half hidden by a vapory weft;
The dim sketch of a grand design,
Whose veiled proportions still suggest
Motion and strength, upheld in rest.
Only one vigorous, broken line,
Half hidden by a vapory weft;
The dim sketch of a grand design,
Whose veiled proportions still suggest
Motion and strength, upheld in rest.
My fancy often paints a Face,
Benign with majesty and light,
Looking out midway through the space
Where the wings part for onward flight:
Oh, wondrous beyond mortal guess
Is that elusive loveliness!
Benign with majesty and light,
Looking out midway through the space
Where the wings part for onward flight:
Oh, wondrous beyond mortal guess
Is that elusive loveliness!
Yet vainly imagery of mine
Dreams its faint picture of the Love
That hovers, with a warmth divine,
These human lives of ours above,
And from the hardships of our lot
Uplifts us, when we know it not.
Dreams its faint picture of the Love
That hovers, with a warmth divine,
These human lives of ours above,
And from the hardships of our lot
Uplifts us, when we know it not.
Out of the very ground we tread
Visions of heavenly hope arise.
God made the earth; it is not dead;
It shares the glory of the skies:
Look! even in vague, half-shapen things
A soul is struggling up for wings!
Visions of heavenly hope arise.
God made the earth; it is not dead;
It shares the glory of the skies:
Look! even in vague, half-shapen things
A soul is struggling up for wings!
Bethel, Me., September, 1881.
| The poetical works of Lucy Larcom | |