Aspromonte and Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

The pearly purple clearness
Of heaven's gates at morn
Through closèd eyelids interwove
With dreamings of the dawn;
And down the gleaming shadowy ways,
In long low light withdrawn,
I saw the young hours brightening back
Far off where I was born;
All peach and apple blossom,
With promise and delight,
A heaven of cloudless sun by day,
And golden stars by night.
Bright lay the way before me,
And brighter to its close,
The farther future ever lit
With deeper tints of rose;
Till where, amid the western heaven,
The glory overflows.
Now, standing at that western gate,
Looking back whence I came,

126

Those long grey desert pathways
Could never be the same—
Behind me all in shadow,
Before me all aflame.

Rose the ideas of youth again,
With grand and glorious eyes,
The visions of immortal things
And works that should arise.
Large talents feeling for the air,
Life bursting into song;
The keen and dauntless spirit,
In hope and purpose strong,
For labour in the vineyard,
Or battle against wrong;
Deep, deep into the morning
Dreaming, for life was long.
Ah, full and fair the shoots of spring
Waved over all the plain;
Now come the harvest angels—
Where is the golden grain?
O Life, of all thy working day,
Does only this remain?
Of torn and tangled fragments,
Not one without a stain.

127

The dead stood up before me
Once more, as they had been,
My own to love and comfort,
In daily dearness seen;
Sweet faces that all silently
With my wild moods had pleaded,
Whose unreproachful sadness
Fell on me then unheeded;
Who looked to me for sunshine,
And found not what they needed.
‘Come back to me one little hour,
And I will tend you so;
Oh, if you were but mine again,
I would not let you go;
If I had known you would have died!
Too late, too late I know.’

The cold hand shook not in my tears,
No eyelid flushed or fell;
They spoke in clear calm voices,
‘We rest, and we are well;
All is forgiven long ago;—
With thee we may not dwell.’
They passed away and out of sight
Ere I could say farewell.

128

And every beggar in the street
I ever had passed by,
‘O stay, that I may help you now!’
But they made no reply;
Then I knew what it was to beg,
And no man heed my cry;
I wept aloud for anguish,
None stopped to ask me why;

And then I saw One standing
In the December night,
With bare feet on the frozen ground,
And in His hand a light.
The wondrous face was turned this way,
Full in the lantern shine;
Under the thorns the deep eyes looked
Their message into mine,
As then He knocked and waited
Before a close-shut door,
With withered red-leaved creepers
And tall dry weeds grown o'er;
No stir, no answer from within,
Yet knocking evermore.
Ah! I remember now how long
I turned away and slept,

129

While under the cold stars all night
His patient watch He kept,
Though all the yearning angels
Were wearied out and wept.
‘Here am I; nor will I depart
Until Thou let me in;
The heavens are far behind me,
One human soul to win;
That thou mayest know My mercy
Is greater than thy sin.’

‘Light of the World! I know thee now,
That might have been my own;
And I have chosen darkness:
Now darkness cometh on,
And it is I must call in vain;
The Lord of Light is gone.’
Then, in despair, unto the winds
The door I opened wide;
And lo! the same as ever,
That bright One stood beside,
With the same smile upon Thy face,
O Crownèd, Crucified,
As when Thy hand stretched o'er the sea
To Peter, who denied.

130

I sank in bitter weeping
Beside the open door—
‘O good Lord, give me back one hour
Of all that went before!’
I heard a deep voice tolling,
‘Nevermore, nevermore!’
On it went echoing under,
Down to the gates of hell;
Helpless and broken-hearted,
Into Christ's arms I fell;
I heard the angels saying,
‘He doeth all things well.’