Fables in Song :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Summer smoulder'd into ashes red
And dim upon the boughs. Sad Autumn sigh'd,
And, sighing, shook them till they rose and fled.
Translucent grew the wood's grey roofage wide.

A whirlwind came, and swept the branches bare,
And in between them widen'd the blue night.
The night was clear and chill. The wintry air
Was thrilling; and the stars shone thro' it bright.

Then that forlorn and sullen pool began
To feel as tho' it were the mystic breath

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Of mighty spirits approaching. Rapture ran,
Sharp as fierce anguish, thro' the shuddering sheath

By weary Wont and sordid Custom spun
To hold and hide keen instincts long supprest,
Which now, all tremulously, one by one,
Leapt to wild life within the water's breast.

For far above it (far, and yet not far,
Swift-changing to a nearness yet not near)
A sudden glory smote it. And a star,
Fall'n in its depths, with throbbing splendour clear

Kindled them all. And the star whisper'd there,
“Child of Eternity, despair not thou!
Unenvying, tho' despised, let others wear
The flaunting robe, and deck the boastful brow

“With the brief diadems of summer days,
Soon scatter'd by the wind. Do thou resign
To those that seek it Earth's near-sighted praise,
Born to reflect Heaven's distances divine!

“Measure thy being's depth by the sublime
Celestial and immeasurable height
Of what is imaged in it. Here, in Time,
(Brief if it be, tho' brief yet infinite)

“Their hour of consciousness arrives at last
To all the children of Eternity,

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Once always, if once only. Thou, too, hast
Thy destined hour. I will return to thee.

“Despair not.” And the image of the star,
Slowly receding from their surface, left
The conscious waters comforted, as are
Spirits which, self-discover'd, tho' bereft

Of earthly converse, have held commune high
Once, if once only, with the heavens above.
Then, while the clear cold of the wintry sky
Grew slowly solid thro' the frost-bound grove,

Slowly those waters cover'd themselves o'er
With crystal pall; whose purifying power
Cleansed all it calm'd and shelter'd till once more
That promist star return. To each his hour!