 | Lyrics (1895) |  |
148
THE MOMENT
One day—it seemed like many other days,
The high-roofed clouds unbroken everywhere,
The hedgerow elms, the dusty weary ways,
Blinked in the senseless glare—
The high-roofed clouds unbroken everywhere,
The hedgerow elms, the dusty weary ways,
Blinked in the senseless glare—
I laboured sadly through the appointed hours,
Until at eve, in utter discontent,
I drew a sudden rapturous breath of flowers,
And forth alone I went.
Until at eve, in utter discontent,
I drew a sudden rapturous breath of flowers,
And forth alone I went.
Listless I wandered by the streamlet's side;
How surely, secretly the water flowed!
Slowly I entered,—dull, dissatisfied,—
A thicket by the road.
How surely, secretly the water flowed!
Slowly I entered,—dull, dissatisfied,—
A thicket by the road.
149
‘O weary earth and O unworthy cares,’
I sighed: the balmy silence round me crept,
And stilled the troubled fancy unawares;—
I know not if I slept,
I sighed: the balmy silence round me crept,
And stilled the troubled fancy unawares;—
I know not if I slept,
Only I know that as I lay outworn,
Where the tall flag his pointed blade unfurled,
There flashed across me, of the silence born,
The secret of the world.
Where the tall flag his pointed blade unfurled,
There flashed across me, of the silence born,
The secret of the world.
Trouble and care and indolent desire
Fell into line: it seemed the world was good;—
I did not praise, nor argue, nor aspire,
Only I understood.
Fell into line: it seemed the world was good;—
I did not praise, nor argue, nor aspire,
Only I understood.
I thought ‘whatever vile unmanning fears
May strike, whatever jealousies perplex,
The sullen burden of the fretful years
Shall have no power to vex.’
May strike, whatever jealousies perplex,
The sullen burden of the fretful years
Shall have no power to vex.’
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Was I awake? I saw the green leaves wave,
Above me thrilled the thrushes' evening song;
I lay in that pure rapture calmly brave,
And infinitely strong.
Above me thrilled the thrushes' evening song;
I lay in that pure rapture calmly brave,
And infinitely strong.
Then in a moment, as I gained my feet,—
Gone, was it gone? No power could trace or track;
Though it had seemed so simple and so sweet,
I could not win it back.
Gone, was it gone? No power could trace or track;
Though it had seemed so simple and so sweet,
I could not win it back.
Only I think the hour when I am tossed
To darkness, when the tides above me roll,
The mighty secret that I learned and lost
Will greet my waking soul.
To darkness, when the tides above me roll,
The mighty secret that I learned and lost
Will greet my waking soul.
| Lyrics (1895) | |