 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
|
|
|
|
 | Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas |  |
We, whose first memories reach half of a century backward,
May praise our fortune to have outliv'd so many dangers,—
Faultiness of Nature's unruly machinery or man's—;
For, once born, whatever 'tis worth, life is to be held to,
Its mere persistence esteem'd as real attainment,
Its crown of silver reverenc'd as one promise of youth
Fruiting, of existence one needful purpose accomplish'd:
And 'twere worth the living, howe'er unkindly bereft of
Those joys and comforts, throu' which we chiefly regard it:
Nay,—set aside the pleasant unhinder'd order of our life,
Our happy enchantments of Fortune, easy surroundings,
Courteous acquaintance, dwelling in fair homes, the delight of
Long-plann'd excursions, the romance of journeying in lands
Historic, of seeing their glory, the famous adornments
Giv'n to memorial Earth by man, decorator of all-time,
(—As we saw with virginal eyes travelling to behold them,—)
Her gorgeous palaces, her tow'rs and stately cathedrals;
Where the turrets and domes of pictured Tuscany slumber,
Or the havoc'd splendours of Rome imperial, or where
Glare the fretted minarets and mosks of trespassing Islam,
And old Nilus, amid the mummied suzerainty of Egypt,
Glideth, a godly presence, consciously regardless of all things,
Save his unending toil and eternal recollections:—
May praise our fortune to have outliv'd so many dangers,—
Faultiness of Nature's unruly machinery or man's—;
For, once born, whatever 'tis worth, life is to be held to,
Its mere persistence esteem'd as real attainment,
Its crown of silver reverenc'd as one promise of youth
Fruiting, of existence one needful purpose accomplish'd:
And 'twere worth the living, howe'er unkindly bereft of
Those joys and comforts, throu' which we chiefly regard it:
Nay,—set aside the pleasant unhinder'd order of our life,
Our happy enchantments of Fortune, easy surroundings,
Courteous acquaintance, dwelling in fair homes, the delight of
Long-plann'd excursions, the romance of journeying in lands
Historic, of seeing their glory, the famous adornments
Giv'n to memorial Earth by man, decorator of all-time,
(—As we saw with virginal eyes travelling to behold them,—)
Her gorgeous palaces, her tow'rs and stately cathedrals;
Where the turrets and domes of pictured Tuscany slumber,
410
Glare the fretted minarets and mosks of trespassing Islam,
And old Nilus, amid the mummied suzerainty of Egypt,
Glideth, a godly presence, consciously regardless of all things,
Save his unending toil and eternal recollections:—
| Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas | |