 | Gathered poems of Ernest Myers |  |
111
LOVE'S COMMON KINGDOM
I
THE ROBE OF LIGHT
The gates are open day by day,
The realm within is nobly fair,
Yet some there be who turn away
Or count it loss to linger there.
The realm within is nobly fair,
Yet some there be who turn away
Or count it loss to linger there.
A heart and fancy warm and pure—
These feed the light Love's lieges wear:
While these in faithful force endure
That light shall gleam through gathering care.
These feed the light Love's lieges wear:
While these in faithful force endure
That light shall gleam through gathering care.
Though Sorrow's brand the heart-strings rive,
And Death o'ercloud with sundering doom,
That ray divine shall yet survive,
A holy lamp behind the gloom.
And Death o'ercloud with sundering doom,
That ray divine shall yet survive,
A holy lamp behind the gloom.
112
II
LIFE WITHIN LIFE
The shepherd lover of old Sicily,
Pouring melodious plaint in doubt's despite
Before the cave that hid his love from sight,
Would fain have been the tawny mountain-bee,
That on like honey-seeking wing might he
Flit in beneath the hanging ivy bright
And tremulous fern, and fly to his Delight,
Even her for whom his heart longed lovingly.
Mine is that bliss and more, for while I roam
Through the strange world, my heart one image bears
Of one pure bower, one chosen sanctuary,
Where Love and Truth and Beauty make their home,
Secret and sure, and make my home with theirs,
Builded for these and me immovably.
113
III
THE YEAR'S SEAL
True heart, this day a year ago our lives for ever blended,
We knelt beneath the ancient rite, we vowed the ancient vow:
Now joyful hope is merged in joy, and dream by deed transcended,
The spring that welled so brightly then, runs a bright river now.
We knelt beneath the ancient rite, we vowed the ancient vow:
Now joyful hope is merged in joy, and dream by deed transcended,
The spring that welled so brightly then, runs a bright river now.
That day, from inmost heaven sent, a Spirit stood before us,
His wings were lit with rainbow light, and on his brow a star:
A wand with dews of Eden wet he bare, and waved it o'er us,
At his mute summons forth we went, and followed him afar.
His wings were lit with rainbow light, and on his brow a star:
A wand with dews of Eden wet he bare, and waved it o'er us,
At his mute summons forth we went, and followed him afar.
114
Through wondrous ways, by earthly guides untrodden, undiscovered,
He led us on, in trust and joy still following hand in hand:
A thousand happy mated birds amid the woodland hovered,
The very earth with gladness heaved, and gleamed with golden sand.
He led us on, in trust and joy still following hand in hand:
A thousand happy mated birds amid the woodland hovered,
The very earth with gladness heaved, and gleamed with golden sand.
Sometimes within those fairy glades, those dreamy deep recesses,
Almost thy gentle heart had failed, so strangely fair they seemed,
But evermore new faith grew up to meet new-found caresses,
And still within the magic shade the star of guidance gleamed.
Almost thy gentle heart had failed, so strangely fair they seemed,
But evermore new faith grew up to meet new-found caresses,
And still within the magic shade the star of guidance gleamed.
It paused amid the pine-forest; we watched in awe and wonder;
The birds were hushed; a silence fell; we listened long and long:
Then softly through that holy place, around, above, and under,
Came murmuring on a solemn sound, the pinewood's mystic song.
The birds were hushed; a silence fell; we listened long and long:
115
Came murmuring on a solemn sound, the pinewood's mystic song.
We left the glen, we sought the sun; but that high hour had brought us
A charm through changing life to live, an undersong sublime:
For Love our lord, our spirit-guide, his masterspell had taught us,
The spell he knows and he alone, the spell that combats Time.
A charm through changing life to live, an undersong sublime:
For Love our lord, our spirit-guide, his masterspell had taught us,
The spell he knows and he alone, the spell that combats Time.
IV
INFANT TOUCH
O blithest thing and sweetest
Of all the blithe and sweet,
From some far clime thou greetest
Our parent eyes that greet.
Of all the blithe and sweet,
From some far clime thou greetest
Our parent eyes that greet.
116
Over what unknown water
What fairy bark hath sped
To waft this new-won daughter,
This glad and golden head?
What fairy bark hath sped
To waft this new-won daughter,
This glad and golden head?
By clashing rocks unfrighted
That guard the gates of birth,
Thou hast drifted on, and lighted
On the fair, sad fields of earth.
That guard the gates of birth,
Thou hast drifted on, and lighted
On the fair, sad fields of earth.
A tiny hand comes gliding,
I feel it touch and twine;
With what entire confiding
It meets and masters mine!
I feel it touch and twine;
With what entire confiding
It meets and masters mine!
Ah! little hand but lead us
Back to thy magic boat;
Nor foe nor friend shall heed us,
As far away we float.
Back to thy magic boat;
Nor foe nor friend shall heed us,
As far away we float.
117
Lead on, and we will follow
And seek the sinless isle,
Where in some hidden hollow
Thy blue eyes learnt their smile.
And seek the sinless isle,
Where in some hidden hollow
Thy blue eyes learnt their smile.
We'll loose the silken tether
And spread the filmy sail,
We three will fleet together
To find that fairy vale.
And spread the filmy sail,
We three will fleet together
To find that fairy vale.
V
INFANT EYES
Blood of my blood, bone of my bone,
Heart of my being's heart,
Strange visitant, yet very son;
All this, and more, thou art.
Heart of my being's heart,
Strange visitant, yet very son;
All this, and more, thou art.
In thy soft lineaments I trace,
More winning daily grown,
The sweetness of thy mother's face
Transfiguring my own.
More winning daily grown,
The sweetness of thy mother's face
Transfiguring my own.
118
That grave but all untroubled gaze,
So rapt yet never dim,
Seems following o'er their starry ways
The wings of cherubim.
So rapt yet never dim,
Seems following o'er their starry ways
The wings of cherubim.
Two worlds man hardly may descry,
(For manhood clouds them o'er),
Commingled to mine inward eye
Are shadowed forth once more:
(For manhood clouds them o'er),
Commingled to mine inward eye
Are shadowed forth once more:
That lost world, whither man's regret
With fictive fancy turns;
That world to come, where brighter yet
The star of promise burns.
With fictive fancy turns;
That world to come, where brighter yet
The star of promise burns.
Time and his weary offspring Care
Fade in that gaze away;
One moment mystically fair
Lives on, one timeless day.
Fade in that gaze away;
One moment mystically fair
Lives on, one timeless day.
119
VI
THE RIVER OF LOVE
Lo, the River from the blue hills welling,
Stream of Love that ever ampler rolls,
Fed by fount on fount to wider swelling,
Bears the sacred bark of plighted souls.
Stream of Love that ever ampler rolls,
Fed by fount on fount to wider swelling,
Bears the sacred bark of plighted souls.
Close embraced in bonds no shock can sunder
Fare they, well content whate'er befall:
Let the changeful skies or smile or thunder:
Storm and sunshine—they have heart for all.
Fare they, well content whate'er befall:
Let the changeful skies or smile or thunder:
Storm and sunshine—they have heart for all.
Somewhere, well they know, in ambush lying
Right athwart their River, near or far,
Gorged with hopes engulfed, their hope defying,
Death, the sandbank, rears his gloomy bar.
Right athwart their River, near or far,
Gorged with hopes engulfed, their hope defying,
Death, the sandbank, rears his gloomy bar.
Then shall that brave River, swiftlier sweeping,
Burst the bar and o'er it bear them free,
Out and onward to the Ocean leaping,
Out and on to Love's eternal Sea.
Burst the bar and o'er it bear them free,
Out and onward to the Ocean leaping,
Out and on to Love's eternal Sea.
| Gathered poems of Ernest Myers | |