 | Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) |  |
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[X. How sad, in this wide airy glade]
How sad, in this wide airy glade,
Where boughs with vocal tremor gleam,
Where great white clouds fling spots of shade
And moons of timid daisies beam,
Near trilling bird and buoyant bee,
To find you thus, O gaunt dead tree!
Where boughs with vocal tremor gleam,
Where great white clouds fling spots of shade
And moons of timid daisies beam,
Near trilling bird and buoyant bee,
To find you thus, O gaunt dead tree!
Spectral you stand amid the glow
And mirth in which you bear no part;
You hear the song, you feel the flow
Of breezes fresh from summer's heart;
Yet still you know, with each glad breath,
The discongruity of death!
And mirth in which you bear no part;
You hear the song, you feel the flow
Of breezes fresh from summer's heart;
Yet still you know, with each glad breath,
The discongruity of death!
Oft through your dry stark frame will run
Faint memories of fonder days;
Of fealty to the regnant sun
And stately rapture in his rays;
Of how your live roots loved to coil
In mellow fathoms of cool soil.
Faint memories of fonder days;
Of fealty to the regnant sun
And stately rapture in his rays;
Of how your live roots loved to coil
In mellow fathoms of cool soil.
Or yet about your sombre blight
More tender dreams perchance may cling
Of how, with delicate delight,
Broke the first bud of your first spring,
And you in mute joy understood
Your own idyllic motherhood.
More tender dreams perchance may cling
Of how, with delicate delight,
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And you in mute joy understood
Your own idyllic motherhood.
Or dearer still perchance you hold
That hour when from your leafy breast
The first frail silver treble told
Of downy young in your first nest,
And of its green protection proud,
Your vernal foliage laughed aloud.
That hour when from your leafy breast
The first frail silver treble told
Of downy young in your first nest,
And of its green protection proud,
Your vernal foliage laughed aloud.
Or you remember, it may be,
In dumb and indeterminate way,
Some vine whose lithe fragility
Clasped your strong bole and weakly lay
Fluttering against your vigor rude,
And charmed you with its gratitude.
In dumb and indeterminate way,
Some vine whose lithe fragility
Clasped your strong bole and weakly lay
Fluttering against your vigor rude,
And charmed you with its gratitude.
But now no more you richly thrive;
Alone yet not alone you reign,
As one alive yet not alive,
A monument of patient pain;
While each new star the night makes clear
Moves you with separate souvenir.
Alone yet not alone you reign,
As one alive yet not alive,
A monument of patient pain;
While each new star the night makes clear
Moves you with separate souvenir.
Ah, best the sturdy woodman came
And bore, ere winter gales could roam,
Your sapless wreck to cheer with flame
The fireside of some peaceful home,
Till all your dumb regrets were lost
In sweet memorial holocaust!
And bore, ere winter gales could roam,
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The fireside of some peaceful home,
Till all your dumb regrets were lost
In sweet memorial holocaust!
| Songs of Doubt and Dream (Poems) | |