Days and Hours :: :: University of Virginia Library

Days and Hours

By Frederick Tennyson

Tennyson, Frederick (1807-1898)

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AUTUMN SHADOWS.

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A DREAM OF SPRING.

I

Fairer than daughters of Mortality,
Who cam'st in dream, and with a dream didst fly,
I pray thee come before the day I die,
Come once again to me;

II

Come to me, O my Angel, as before—
Come with thy golden smile illumining
My sleep—come thou some twilight of the Spring
Once more, blest Soul, once more!

III

Come with thy dark and odorous locks unbraided,
Come with that sweet and dusky brow of thine,
Come with that low-toned melody divine,
And deep eyes softly shaded.

IV

I do remember well, it was that time
Of early youth, when Beauty fell on me
Like the warm breathing on a waveless sea
Of the sweet vernal prime;

V

It was the season when the days of Spring
Were dying into Summer, and at Even
I looked forth sadly on the glooming Heaven,
And heard the lone bird sing;

VI

My thoughts were sad with musing of sad years
Sung sweetly by a minstrel long departed,
And with the sighs of him so gentle-hearted
I mingled mine own tears;

VII

Strange were those tears—for I was glad and young—
But he of Arqua made such long lament
That pale Despair into my spirit went
With echoes of his song;

VIII

My heart began to throb within my breast
As though it strove against the grasp of Death,
I panted, and I drew the troubled breath
Of dreamers in unrest;

IX

And as the shadows of the Night unfurl'd
Their wings, I saw fair shapes in woful plight
Sign long farewells, and take their hopeless flight
For ever from the World;

X

And as the wild notes of the wakeful bird
Paused in the gloom, methought I heard a sigh
Pass, like an Earth-lament, in music by,
The saddest ever heard;

XI

‘Spirits of the disconsolate, do ye
Watch round the ways of men,’ I cried, ‘unseen,
Only to weep, that sorrows which have been,
Are, and shall ever be?

XII

‘That fondest hearts are stabb'd with deepest pain—
That Pity battles against pitiless Ill,
That lonely Love laments and struggles still,
And seeks for Love in vain?’

XIII

I do remember well, it was the time
When in the East pale rose begins to burn,
And night-dews brim the lily's silver urn,
And fresher breathes the clime;

XIV

When the lone nightingale, that sang all night,
Drowses, and blossoms of the orange bower
Pant in the still air, and the passionflower
Unfolds her in the light;

XV

I laid my brow upon that book of sighs;
Slowly I sank into a charmed sleep
While yet the tears his sorrows made me weep
Were trembling in mine eyes.

XVI

Sudden a glory fill'd the silence wide;
A light more beautiful than Summernoon,
Warm as the Sun, yet tender as the Moon,
And drown'd me in its tide!

XVII

It pour'd into the void; it swathed the bowers;
It bathed the earth like bliss from Paradise;
It came with melody impregn'd, and sighs
Of young unfolding flowers.

XVIII

From underneath hush'd walks of dewy vine,
And coverts of soft roses, thou didst rise
Into my chamber open to the skies,
With that winged heart of thine;

XIX

And from thine eyes didst thro' mine eyelids pour
Soft lightnings, that within me tremble yet,
Fringing sad clouds with their reflection sweet,
Since that immortal hour;

XX

I look'd upon thy face—and lo! thereon
The Shape of mine own Soul—whate'er of me
Slept folded up in Personality
Was there transfused, and shone;

XXI

Melodies, that with inarticulate tone
Wander'd within me, wondering whence they sprung,
Heard music in the magic of thy tongue,
Strange echo of their own;

XXII

Raptures, that in a moment live and die—
Shades from the Past—prophetic voices low—
Glories, that like still lightnings come and go—
Love, Anguish, Ecstacy;

XXIII

Dim thoughts, that reach us from the Infinite,
Faint as far seas, or twilight in eclipse,
Flow'd forth like noonday waters from thy lips,
And from thy brows like light!

XXIV

I heard thee speak—swift utterance, clear and low—
Thou leanedst over me, and in mine ear
Breathedst such tender notes, that still I hear—
Oh! could I see thee now!

XXV

Didst thou not say? methought I heard thee say,
‘Beloved (words, ah! desolate and sweet),
Alas! in thy sad World we cannot meet,
Or in the light of Day;

XXVI

But, O beloved, I will hold for thee
A happy Isle, beyond the Worlds forlorn,
Beyond the golden rivers of the Morn,
Deep in the starry sea.

XXVII

I am the Spirit that hath onward led.
Thy mortal steps, the Being that shall be
Hereafter loved by thee, and only thee,
The Soul thy Soul shall wed;

XXVIII

Before the bases of the World were laid,
Or bloodless dust awoke unto the Sun,
The secret Spirit of the Highest One
Knew all things he hath made;

XXIX

The thoughts of God were harmonies to be—
Music and Light—the Waters and the Winds—
And Souls ordained their perfect life to find
In perfect sympathy;

XXX

And though all Nature mourn as One bereaved,
And mystic shadows cross the mystic plan,
Doubt not, the Life of Things, and Soul of Man
Shall end, as preconceived;

XXXI

As distant Stars draw influence from each other,
Soul, counterpart of Soul, though far apart,
Still trembles to its fellow, more than heart
Of brother unto brother;

XXXII

This night thou sawest one in the zenith shine:
Its light had travelled for a thousand years;
So doth my soul, drawn by thy sighs and tears,
Flow ever unto thine;

XXXIII

The Star thou sawest hath been extinguished
A thousand years; yet still behold it burn:
So shall thy thoughts, which ever to me turn,
Live after thou art dead;

XXXIV

For thou must die, and change: thou must be cast
Upon the torrent of the ebbless flood,
Change is the Life of Life, the pulse of God,
The soul of the dead Past;

XXXV

Thou hast seen Seas shrunk from their ancient bed;
Thou hast seen Wastes where Forests stood of old;
Thou hast seen Mountains from their places roll'd;
Great Suns are vanished;

XXXVI

Still Change drives onward mighty things and small,
The Nations of the Past are silent now,
And yet a few more vexed years, and thou
Shalt cease to be at all;

XXXVII

The solemn Voices that arose, and cried
New tidings, and o'erwhelmed the earth with wonder,
Faint, as on leeward winds the dying thunder,
Or like a sinking tide;

XXXVIII

Not all thy love for me, fond heart, nor mine
For thee, not all the rapture in thy spirit
Will stay the doom thou mortal must inherit—
Thy soul must flee to mine.

XXXIX

Behold, I see beyond the mystic River
Of Time, I see the silent Earth afar
Hang sunless in the icy void—the star
Of Day is quenched for ever!

XL

Weep not, nor be disquieted in vain;
Behold the noise of human deeds hath ceased,
And the Eternal Spirit hath released
Thy life from Fear and Pain;

XLI

And I am sitting with thee in the light
Of the unquenched Lamps before the Throne,
That burn'd ere Time was born, ere Sunlight shone,
Or the Star-zoned Night.

XLII

And there is music roundabout us flowing,
Whose ever-changing harmonies keep time
To great imaginings that onward climb,
And thoughts for ever growing;

XLIII

Behold the spirit of thy Mind is new,
The very fashion of thy Form is wrought
In beauty such as thine imperfect thought
Might never image true;

XLIV

And thou art gazing with a glorious brow,
A tearless conscience, and a cloudless eye
Upon the Past, and then beholdest why
Thou art in darkness now;

XLV

Darkness—yet cloven with light from far away—
Like that which glimmers o'er the sunless Earth,
And whispers to it whence it hath its birth—
From the great coming Day!

XLVI

All mortal Passions in thy mighty Mind
Are dead—but Hope hath got her other wings
To soar beyond all vain imaginings,
And leave the stars behind,

XLVII

Far as the Seas surpass a drop of rain,
Far as the boundless Winds thy little breath,
Far as unboundled Life thy World of Death,
Or Gods the strength of Men!'

XLVIII

That music ceased; I felt my forehead thrill
With touches of those lips; the immortal fire
Seem'd all my frame that moment to inspire
With life that lingers still!

XLIX

Slowly her beauty faded from my view,
Ev'n as a silver star that bathes its light
In the slow-gathering dews and breath of night,
As back to Heaven she flew;

L

‘Spirit,’ I cried, when I beheld that sight,
With struggling sobs, like voice of drowning men,
Or one that meets the wind—‘oh! turn again,
And answer me aright,

LI

‘How long, how long shall I lament for thee,
Upon the torrent of Destruction cast
Into the cold, illimitable Vast,
O Blest Affinity?’

LII

Another Voice, it still'd the heart to hear;
Far off, as from behind the walls of Time,
Spake, and in echoes tender and sublime
Waved to the utmost sphere;

LIII

‘Love cannot die—empyreal and divine—
As viewless atoms into systems grow,
As the fire-winged worlds together flow,
Her soul shall flow to thine!’

LIV

But with the anguish of that agony
I woke—my tears fell in the silent hour—
‘Ah! sure,’ I cried, ‘if Love be Life, be Power,
My soul shall follow Thee!’

LV

Just then above great walls of towered cloud
The glorious Dawn like a world-whelming tide
Roll'd earthward; even then I would have died,
Drown'd in that golden flood,

LVI

So that I might have follow'd where she went
For ever diving thro' the endless light,
And sumless years, to drink another sight
Of such wild ravishment!

LVII

With thoughts of that sweet dream the livelong day
My spirit stirr'd—as odours of a flower
Will haunt the sense in many an afterhour,
When it is shed away;

LVIII

Oft as the memory of the vision came
My pulses trembled, and the Summer green
Quiver'd before my sight, as it were seen
Thro' streams of fiery flame!

LIX

Angel of beauty, thou that once erewhile
Didst visit me in dreams, and with thine eyes
Turnedst my darkness into Paradise,
And with thy blessed smile;

LX

Fairer than daughters of Mortality,
Who cam'st in dream, and with a dream didst fly,
I pray thee, come to me the day I die,
And take me back with thee!