 | East and west : the discovery of America and other poems |  |
137
FIRST MOVEMENT. The Sea and the Sky.
Blast of disruption triumphant! Wail of the travail of Time!
Shudder of terrified worlds in the glare of the sun of the new!
Thrills of the joy of creation! Potence of prophets sublime!
Faces in dust to be lifted, and crowned with the stars of the true!
Shudder of terrified worlds in the glare of the sun of the new!
Thrills of the joy of creation! Potence of prophets sublime!
Faces in dust to be lifted, and crowned with the stars of the true!
Crowns of the stars like wreaths
On the lap of the midnight sky.
And the sympathetic ocean breathes
With the swell of a smothered sigh.
Stars like the fallen leaves
That in autumn die,
On the lap of the sea as it heaves
With a death-foreboding cry.
But angels glorious, deathless,
Gaze from the windows of heaven breathless
On bird-like ships that are floating by.
On the lap of the midnight sky.
And the sympathetic ocean breathes
With the swell of a smothered sigh.
Stars like the fallen leaves
That in autumn die,
138
With a death-foreboding cry.
But angels glorious, deathless,
Gaze from the windows of heaven breathless
On bird-like ships that are floating by.
“O mocking, sighing, treacherous sea,
Whisper thy fathomless secret to me.”
Whisper thy fathomless secret to me.”
Then the coo
Of a soft wind blew,
And a shiver ran up to the flag at the masthead high;
And the blast of disruption blew, and the night wailed loud in her pain,
And the stars hid under a cloud that was heavy and blue with rain.
And the small waves writhed as they came,
Writhed like the wreaths of a flame,
Like the luminous, drifting breath
Of a wraith in the chamber of death;
And their pleadings fell
With the moans of a petalled shell,
As they curled with purrings and hisses
Their warm lips bubbling with kisses,
Rolling in tremulous eagerness
Of an amorous siren's soft caress
For this second Ulysses.
Of a soft wind blew,
And a shiver ran up to the flag at the masthead high;
And the blast of disruption blew, and the night wailed loud in her pain,
And the stars hid under a cloud that was heavy and blue with rain.
And the small waves writhed as they came,
Writhed like the wreaths of a flame,
Like the luminous, drifting breath
Of a wraith in the chamber of death;
And their pleadings fell
With the moans of a petalled shell,
As they curled with purrings and hisses
Their warm lips bubbling with kisses,
Rolling in tremulous eagerness
Of an amorous siren's soft caress
For this second Ulysses.
139
But he cried in his agony,
“Away with thy curséd lips, O sea!
And thy snaky fingers of weeds
That reach from the sleeve of thy frothing beads!
Echo no more the voice
Of our weakening spirit's choice!
Heaven knows that we yearn
For the secret impossible bliss of return.
But the flame of an inward fire
Burns fiercer than tenderest heart's desire,
A fire that feeds
On the very anguish of wonderful deeds.
Begone, I say! Make way, make way,
In the name of the Lord!
With His cross on my sword,
I carve from this doubt and temptation
A path through thy sheer desolation!”
“Away with thy curséd lips, O sea!
And thy snaky fingers of weeds
That reach from the sleeve of thy frothing beads!
Echo no more the voice
Of our weakening spirit's choice!
Heaven knows that we yearn
For the secret impossible bliss of return.
But the flame of an inward fire
Burns fiercer than tenderest heart's desire,
A fire that feeds
On the very anguish of wonderful deeds.
Begone, I say! Make way, make way,
In the name of the Lord!
With His cross on my sword,
I carve from this doubt and temptation
A path through thy sheer desolation!”
Then the balm
Of a perfect calm
Fell over the passionate seas;
A fragrant calm
Like the hush of a psalm,
That hangs on the boughs of the cocoanut trees,
That hides in the heart of a great cool palm,
Where the coral harps like bended moons
Echo forever the splendid tunes
That float on the dreams of the broad lagoons.
Of a perfect calm
Fell over the passionate seas;
A fragrant calm
Like the hush of a psalm,
That hangs on the boughs of the cocoanut trees,
That hides in the heart of a great cool palm,
Where the coral harps like bended moons
Echo forever the splendid tunes
That float on the dreams of the broad lagoons.
140
Then the flying fish
Arose, and sped with a sudden dash
Like the shivering line of a lightning flash,
And sank again with a joyous plash;
Like golden shuttles in silver mesh,
Like love that leaps to the burning flesh;
Again and again, like the throb of a fresh young wish.
Arose, and sped with a sudden dash
Like the shivering line of a lightning flash,
And sank again with a joyous plash;
Like golden shuttles in silver mesh,
Like love that leaps to the burning flesh;
Again and again, like the throb of a fresh young wish.
O wish that no god may know!
O throb of despair and delay!
O sob of another dying day!
O faith that flies like shaft from a bow,
Then sinks again in the floods of woe!
O throb of despair and delay!
O sob of another dying day!
O faith that flies like shaft from a bow,
Then sinks again in the floods of woe!
Then cried he in deeper pain:—
“O last faint flutter of hope, thou shalt not fail!
Breathe, breathe again
Into the pallid cheek of my despondent sail
The shell-hued glinting of thy gleeful gale!
Respond, respond,
O holy universal Mother of the seas beyond!
O brooding Dove, breathe inspiration fair;
Be it through lightnings of the summer air
That kisses warm
With furious fevered breath,
Or be it in the utmost throes of tropic storm;
Even in Death,
Reveal, reveal thy form!”
“O last faint flutter of hope, thou shalt not fail!
Breathe, breathe again
Into the pallid cheek of my despondent sail
The shell-hued glinting of thy gleeful gale!
Respond, respond,
O holy universal Mother of the seas beyond!
O brooding Dove, breathe inspiration fair;
Be it through lightnings of the summer air
That kisses warm
With furious fevered breath,
Or be it in the utmost throes of tropic storm;
Even in Death,
Reveal, reveal thy form!”
141
Hark!
A sudden shriek in the dark!
A whistle that shoots to the peak!
A darkness that sweeps to the deck!
A crash like a wreck!
O blast of disruption triumphant! O wail of the travail of Time!
And the backs of the green waves break;
And the stout beams crackle and creak;
And the keels roll weak,
And reel in the cavernous wake
Of a violet lightning streak.
Shudder of terrified worlds in the glare of the lightning sublime!
A sudden shriek in the dark!
A whistle that shoots to the peak!
A darkness that sweeps to the deck!
A crash like a wreck!
O blast of disruption triumphant! O wail of the travail of Time!
And the backs of the green waves break;
And the stout beams crackle and creak;
And the keels roll weak,
And reel in the cavernous wake
Of a violet lightning streak.
Shudder of terrified worlds in the glare of the lightning sublime!
Shuddering rumble of thunder drums!
Wailing flutes of the hurricane!
Trailing beards of the matted rain!
Suns that crumble in blinding crumbs!
Wailing flutes of the hurricane!
Trailing beards of the matted rain!
Suns that crumble in blinding crumbs!
Hist!
Whistling from water-snakes' nests,
Pestiferous,
Vociferous!
Sulphurous gulfs!
Rushing of selfless elfs!
Restless cresting of helpless breasts!
Shifting rifts of the hapless mist!
And ever the shrouded form
Of the great gaunt god of the storm,
With eyes as of skulls
That shine in the lulls,
And fingers with skin like a wing,
That cling to the hair
With the clutch of despair,
As foul sea-claws to a drowned corpse cling!
Whistling from water-snakes' nests,
Pestiferous,
Vociferous!
Sulphurous gulfs!
Rushing of selfless elfs!
Restless cresting of helpless breasts!
Shifting rifts of the hapless mist!
142
Of the great gaunt god of the storm,
With eyes as of skulls
That shine in the lulls,
And fingers with skin like a wing,
That cling to the hair
With the clutch of despair,
As foul sea-claws to a drowned corpse cling!
O blast of disruption, and utter diremption!
O shudder of doubt that is passing the bonds of dimension!
O mental and physical tension
Of terrified worlds that are hurled as if lost to redemption!
Disruption! Distortion!
Destruction! Abortion!
Worry, and murmur, and motion of scurrying currents!
Tearing, and perilous tossing of turbulent torrents!
Murderous horror, and crossing of error with terror!
Scoff of the physical surf like a breath on the psychical mirror!
Mist-driven broods of the ocean like moods of our mystical nature!
Railing and blare in the tempest, and wail and despairing of travail!
Thrills of creation in glare of the wills of the powers of evil!
Swords that shall leap with the hour to the hearts of creator and creature!
O shudder of doubt that is passing the bonds of dimension!
O mental and physical tension
Of terrified worlds that are hurled as if lost to redemption!
Disruption! Distortion!
Destruction! Abortion!
Worry, and murmur, and motion of scurrying currents!
Tearing, and perilous tossing of turbulent torrents!
Murderous horror, and crossing of error with terror!
Scoff of the physical surf like a breath on the psychical mirror!
Mist-driven broods of the ocean like moods of our mystical nature!
Railing and blare in the tempest, and wail and despairing of travail!
Thrills of creation in glare of the wills of the powers of evil!
Swords that shall leap with the hour to the hearts of creator and creature!
143
“Ah peace, peace!
Santa Maria, peace!
Let the wild torture of this fury cease!
Yea, on this watery desert have I fasted, and sung thy praise
A thousand times over a Lenten season of forty nights and days.
Unmoved on the lofty tower of thy purposes dim I stood.
Lust, and Ambition, and Doubt, and Fear swept by in a hurricane brood.
But I was not, I am not strong.
How long, O Mother of our Lord, how long
Shall I be hammered as molten steel in the forge of this scourger's mood?”
Santa Maria, peace!
Let the wild torture of this fury cease!
Yea, on this watery desert have I fasted, and sung thy praise
A thousand times over a Lenten season of forty nights and days.
Unmoved on the lofty tower of thy purposes dim I stood.
Lust, and Ambition, and Doubt, and Fear swept by in a hurricane brood.
But I was not, I am not strong.
How long, O Mother of our Lord, how long
Shall I be hammered as molten steel in the forge of this scourger's mood?”
O first unwelcomed foreigner!
O last unconscious mariner!
See, through the swift unravelling fringe of the shattered clouds
Light breaks.
Fragments of mist are swirling like lost bewildered flakes.
The stars are swimming in scattered crowds.
Tossed on the breast of heaven what waif is this from the wreck?
What messenger of hope alights upon thy shrouds?
A small brown speck
Helpless it falls, it flutters to the deck.
O thrill of a prophecy dying! O flutter of wingéd wish!
“Nay;—'t is only a flying fish
Hapless thrown up
From the lip of the ocean's frothing cup.”
“O comrade mine, what is 't? What is 't?—It stirred!
It cannot be—Jesu beloved, dare I lisp the word?—
It cannot be, I say,—
Great God, make way!
A small land bird!”
O last unconscious mariner!
See, through the swift unravelling fringe of the shattered clouds
Light breaks.
Fragments of mist are swirling like lost bewildered flakes.
The stars are swimming in scattered crowds.
Tossed on the breast of heaven what waif is this from the wreck?
What messenger of hope alights upon thy shrouds?
A small brown speck
Helpless it falls, it flutters to the deck.
144
“Nay;—'t is only a flying fish
Hapless thrown up
From the lip of the ocean's frothing cup.”
“O comrade mine, what is 't? What is 't?—It stirred!
It cannot be—Jesu beloved, dare I lisp the word?—
It cannot be, I say,—
Great God, make way!
A small land bird!”
There it lies with heart a-tremble,
Plumage torn by fire and hail;
While earth's boldest sons assemble
Weeping o'er its body frail:—
Even as angel choirs are weeping
Round some stricken tortured soul
Freed from storms of sin, and sleeping
At its last unconscious goal.
Plumage torn by fire and hail;
While earth's boldest sons assemble
Weeping o'er its body frail:—
Even as angel choirs are weeping
Round some stricken tortured soul
Freed from storms of sin, and sleeping
At its last unconscious goal.
So flies the blesséd dove with olive bough
To thee, lone wanderer on a world-wide ark.
So shall the smile of God direct thy prow
To some new Ararat across the dark.
Thence shall thine eyes behold again the sight
That flashed on Moses from Mount Pisgah's height.
Look up, for soon shall break upon thy brow
What Israel's chieftain led, a pillar of fire by night.
How calm and how sweet the night!
How fresh and how pure the sea!
And the cool salt air like a thing of delight
Sweeps over the soul as a wing in flight,
And the sky is barred by the caging bright
Where hope is beating her plume to be free.
Thrills of the joy of creation in potence of prophecy new!
And the stars new washed like a crown of leaves
Are held in the arms of the virgin sky,
Are raised by the royal love that heaves
The loyal heart of the tiptoe wave
At the new-found kiss of a master brave,
Of her true-found prince who is sailing by.
Heroes on high to be lifted, and crowned with the stars of the true!—
Yes, the true,—
And the new,—
Lapped by two great infinities of blue;
Wrapped in the vapors of the cosmic dew.
To thee, lone wanderer on a world-wide ark.
So shall the smile of God direct thy prow
To some new Ararat across the dark.
Thence shall thine eyes behold again the sight
That flashed on Moses from Mount Pisgah's height.
Look up, for soon shall break upon thy brow
What Israel's chieftain led, a pillar of fire by night.
145
How fresh and how pure the sea!
And the cool salt air like a thing of delight
Sweeps over the soul as a wing in flight,
And the sky is barred by the caging bright
Where hope is beating her plume to be free.
Thrills of the joy of creation in potence of prophecy new!
And the stars new washed like a crown of leaves
Are held in the arms of the virgin sky,
Are raised by the royal love that heaves
The loyal heart of the tiptoe wave
At the new-found kiss of a master brave,
Of her true-found prince who is sailing by.
Heroes on high to be lifted, and crowned with the stars of the true!—
Yes, the true,—
And the new,—
Lapped by two great infinities of blue;
Wrapped in the vapors of the cosmic dew.
O thrill of the joy of creation!
O will of the mood of devotion!
O prophecy potent of ocean!
O stars of the crown of salvation!
Penitent lifting of faces to infinite graces!
Permanent drifting of planets to ultimate places!
Potency patent of dust on the brow of the just!
Latent devotion of trust to the new she embraces!
O will of the mood of devotion!
O prophecy potent of ocean!
O stars of the crown of salvation!
Penitent lifting of faces to infinite graces!
Permanent drifting of planets to ultimate places!
146
Latent devotion of trust to the new she embraces!
But hark!
What was spoken?
Was it the throb of yon spark
That cuts like a Damascene blade to the dome of the dark?
Has the heart of a white star broken?
Was it the whisper of distance? Was it the blinding roar
Of wedges of light that are splitting the sky to the ocean's floor;
Even as solid edges of proud Vesuvius split
In the rage of a lava-fit,
When the glorious crimson blood spurts through with a hiss
The red ripe wound of each orifice?
What was spoken?
Was it the throb of yon spark
That cuts like a Damascene blade to the dome of the dark?
Has the heart of a white star broken?
Was it the whisper of distance? Was it the blinding roar
Of wedges of light that are splitting the sky to the ocean's floor;
Even as solid edges of proud Vesuvius split
In the rage of a lava-fit,
When the glorious crimson blood spurts through with a hiss
The red ripe wound of each orifice?
O pillars of light that are lifting the glare of the glorified ceiling,
O fierce arabesques of the stars as they leap in antiphonal passion,
O shaft of the uttermost steeple that reels with the madness of feeling,
Here shower thy blazing cathedral on the corpse of this universe ashen!
Rise in thy architectonic splendor of radiant fires
From the womb of creative desires!
On the combing wave of thy crystal dome now set
The diamond jet
Of each sparkling minaret,
Pouring like infinite golden foam from the torches of molten spires!
Let each tongue of flame
Have an individual name,
A voice effervescent,
Evanescent,
Swept from the floor to the roof in a pæan incessant;
As of luminous souls
In the joy of their self-won force,
Each on the tremulous wedge of a rocket's course
From the vortices shot of the duplicate cosmic poles!
O fierce arabesques of the stars as they leap in antiphonal passion,
O shaft of the uttermost steeple that reels with the madness of feeling,
Here shower thy blazing cathedral on the corpse of this universe ashen!
Rise in thy architectonic splendor of radiant fires
From the womb of creative desires!
147
The diamond jet
Of each sparkling minaret,
Pouring like infinite golden foam from the torches of molten spires!
Let each tongue of flame
Have an individual name,
A voice effervescent,
Evanescent,
Swept from the floor to the roof in a pæan incessant;
As of luminous souls
In the joy of their self-won force,
Each on the tremulous wedge of a rocket's course
From the vortices shot of the duplicate cosmic poles!
What gossamer network of comets' tails
Shrouds heaven in rainbow veils!
Pulsing in changeable gold on the breast of this astral chameleon,
Filaments scattered like crowns of enamel on walls of Alhambra,
Orbital laces of loops on the centres of darker penumbra,
Flashing of manes from the chargers in star-clustered perihelion!
Shrouds heaven in rainbow veils!
Pulsing in changeable gold on the breast of this astral chameleon,
Filaments scattered like crowns of enamel on walls of Alhambra,
Orbital laces of loops on the centres of darker penumbra,
Flashing of manes from the chargers in star-clustered perihelion!
Yet these soft skeins of astral floss
Waving like beards of incandescent moss
Of a sudden condense
By some centripetal master influence.
Earth's breath is held,
As when in the gloomy slime of chaotic eld
The atoms huddled in blank amaze
At the soul-searching gaze
Of the first created sun.
So now, on this altar of night
Blazes anew that sacramental light
For a day's work done.
Four-armed it lies,
A blinding prophecy in the central skies;
A cross!
Waving like beards of incandescent moss
Of a sudden condense
148
Earth's breath is held,
As when in the gloomy slime of chaotic eld
The atoms huddled in blank amaze
At the soul-searching gaze
Of the first created sun.
So now, on this altar of night
Blazes anew that sacramental light
For a day's work done.
Four-armed it lies,
A blinding prophecy in the central skies;
A cross!
How calm the night! How free
After this meteoric ecstasy!
The world is still
With fixity of faith, and deep untroubled will:—
Faith in the infinite blue spirit of the sky,
Will in the infinite true bosom of the sea.
Purposes unclouded, and the goal like a star set firm;
Time but a gentle bride in Creation's fond embrace.
Kiss of a hero who lifts the veil from a virgin's face!
Goddess-birth from the foam of the sea at the God-appointed term!
After this meteoric ecstasy!
The world is still
With fixity of faith, and deep untroubled will:—
Faith in the infinite blue spirit of the sky,
Will in the infinite true bosom of the sea.
Purposes unclouded, and the goal like a star set firm;
Time but a gentle bride in Creation's fond embrace.
Kiss of a hero who lifts the veil from a virgin's face!
Goddess-birth from the foam of the sea at the God-appointed term!
Ah, hero, weep—
In the happy dreams of thy sleep,
Pillowed on folds of rosy-hued idea
On the deck of the Santa Maria.
Sail on, and dream
In the molten glow of this steady tidal stream
That bears thee sure
To worlds more wonderful and pure
Than thou canst deem.
In the happy dreams of thy sleep,
Pillowed on folds of rosy-hued idea
149
Sail on, and dream
In the molten glow of this steady tidal stream
That bears thee sure
To worlds more wonderful and pure
Than thou canst deem.
And now on the tossing edges of the East
A higher wave of molten silver flashes,
Flashes a moment, and dashes
Like spray by the stars to be kissed.
Nay, nay,
'T is not wave-mist.
'T is a star that thou hast not seen;
For it flashes keen
With a diamond light increased,
And it comes to stay.
'T is a wave,—'t is a star,—'t is an arch,—
'T is the chord of a harp a-tune.
It wafts thee a secret thy fancy hath never heard.
'T is a luminous golden orb with expanding wing.
It shakes the sea from its breast as a king-like bird.
'T is the saintly, impersonal moon.
As a godlike thing
With solemn and dignified motion
She rises,—she leaps,—she is free.
She soars away on the constellated march
Of the deathless Zodiac.
Her parting smile irradiates the ocean.
It lies in the foaming wake of thy perilous track.
It beckons thee onward, not back,
'T is thy pillar of fire by night.
And so, with her virginal kiss on thy brow,
Slumber thou,
Dream thou now
Of the ultimate Light!
A higher wave of molten silver flashes,
Flashes a moment, and dashes
Like spray by the stars to be kissed.
Nay, nay,
'T is not wave-mist.
'T is a star that thou hast not seen;
For it flashes keen
With a diamond light increased,
And it comes to stay.
'T is a wave,—'t is a star,—'t is an arch,—
'T is the chord of a harp a-tune.
It wafts thee a secret thy fancy hath never heard.
'T is a luminous golden orb with expanding wing.
It shakes the sea from its breast as a king-like bird.
'T is the saintly, impersonal moon.
As a godlike thing
With solemn and dignified motion
She rises,—she leaps,—she is free.
She soars away on the constellated march
Of the deathless Zodiac.
Her parting smile irradiates the ocean.
150
It beckons thee onward, not back,
'T is thy pillar of fire by night.
And so, with her virginal kiss on thy brow,
Slumber thou,
Dream thou now
Of the ultimate Light!
| East and west : the discovery of America and other poems | |