The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems

THEY said it to me until I believed,
And then I said it sadly to myself;
‘The yearning for the Beautiful is vain;
Art is a bauble, Pride a stumbling-block,
And your brave, Noble Soul, a silly dupe,
While all must yield to selfish Common Sense,
To Common Sense and Gold. In this believe!
And in my need and grievous loneliness,
Amid the dust and turmoil of the land,
I did believe;—when, lo! I heard a voice
As of youth singing on the distant hills,
And then there came the gleam of glorious eyes,
The tramp of steeds, the rush of autumn winds,
And memories of those ideal friends
Dreamed in the days of hope, and last of all
The pale, proud, glorious face of their great Queen,
Like Lucifer's when reconciled to God,—
Too grand for woman, yet too sweet for man,
Nobler from knowledge—better from the fall,
And then I wept and turned to Truth again.

The past is but a mouldering shroud,
The future all a shimmering cloud;
But thy proud glance, oh! queenly star
Turns not to phantoms faint and far.

Thou lov'st to hear the North Wind's song,
To see the torrent foam along.
Oh! could I dart as wild and free
For ever on, proud heart, with thee!

The mists of dawn drive fast and far,
And dimmer grows the morning-star;
I see the day's red life arise,
Reflected back from thy deep eyes;
All moves and lives 'mid wakening sounds,
And glad with life thy brave heart bounds;
Thou gallant, daring heart, how free
That heart must bound which mates with thee!

Souls love! What though it be not given
To us to dart like sprites through heaven,
Or float in torrent-whirls along
Forgetting life in one wild song,
Still we may scorn the slavish fears
Which crush the world to doubts and tears,
And they who win this strength rise free
With falcon glance o'er heaven and sea.

And thou hast won it. Strength by strength
Thou'st conquered all the spell at length.
Henceforth no coward fear can chill,
No lies benumb the joyous will,
And all things unconfined and free
Sing one great song of life to thee.

And who is she who woke the song?
Oh friend, look forth! In every throng
Thou seest some eye which proudly gleams
As though awaked from earth's low dreams,

Some yearning glance in which is seen
What fain would be—what might have been.
A glance which, when I feel and see,
My heart burns wild ‘to rise with thee.’

University of Virginia Library

TO RISE WITH THEE!’