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The bird and the bell, with other poems

Cranch, Christopher Pearse (1813-1892)

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[section]
  
[As one who in some cellar crypt has kept]
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THE BIRD AND THE BELL
  
[prologue]
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
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IV.
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 VI. 
VI.
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VII.
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VIII.
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XIII.
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XIV.
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XVIII.
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LXV.
  
THE THREE MUSES.
  
THE SHADOWED RIVER.
  
NOVEMBER TREES.
  
THE FLOWER AND THE BEE.
  
THE CATARACT ISLE.
  
IN THE GARDEN.
  
IN THE PINE WOODS.
  
LUNA THROUGH A LORGNETTE.
  
IN THE PALAIS ROYAL GARDEN.
  
CORNUCOPIA.
  
A FRIEND.
  
THE AUTUMN RAIN.
  
SPIRITS IN PRISON.
  
BLONDEL.
  
THE OLD DAYS AND THE NEW.
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WHY!
 1. 
I.
 2. 
II.
  
THROUGH THE FIELDS TO ST. PETER'S.
  
MARION DALE.
  
VEILS.
  
THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
  
ATALANTA.
  
AL HASSAN'S SECRET.
  
MY OLD PALETTE.
  
THE BOBOLINKS.
  
THE BOBOLINKS.
  
CRETE.
  
J. R. L.
  
SEA SHADOWS.
  
THE MOUNTAIN PATH.
  
BIRD LANGUAGE.
  
THE CHANGING YEAR.
  
SOFT, BROWN, SMILING EYES.
  
THE DREAM OF PILATE'S WIFE.
  
THE DISPUTE OF THE SEVEN DAYS.
  
A THRUSH IN A GILDED CAGE.
  
UNDER THE SKYLIGHT.
  
I IN THEE, AND THOU IN ME.
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TO THE MEMORY OF MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI.
 1. 
I.
 2. 
II.
 3. 
III.
 4. 
IV.
 5. 
V.
 6. 
VI.
 7. 
VII.
  
IAPIS.
  
THE WORKSHOP AND THE BRONZE.
  
THE EVENING PRIMROSE.
  
IN A CHURCH.
  
DECEMBER.
  
A CHINESE STORY.
  
A SONG OF HOME.
  
A SPRING-GROWL.
  
WAITING BY THE SEA.
  
SHELLING PEAS.
  
LOUIS NAPOLEON.
  
BY THE SHORE OF THE RIVER.
  
THE AMERICAN PANTHEON.
  
IN THE FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU.
  
A DAY OF MEMORIES.
  
THE GUEST.
  
OCTOBER.
  
TO A HALF-FRIEND.
  
MUSIC.
  
COMPENSATION.
  
A BATTLE OF THE ELEMENTS.
  
MEMORIAL HALL.
  
DREAM-LIFE.
  
THE CENTURY AND THE NATION.
  
THE LAY OF THRYM; OR, THE HAMMER RECOVERED.
  
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI.
  
ON RE-READING TENNYSON'S PRINCESS.
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SONNETS.
  
THE HIGHER LAW.
  
CIRCUMSTANCE.
  
SHAKESPEARE.
  
THE GARDEN.
  
THE GARDEN (CONTINUED).
  
TO G. W. C.
  
TO W. W. S.
  
TO W. W. S.
  
TO O. B. F.
  
TO O. B. F. (CONTINUED.)
  
YOUTH AND AGE.
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POEMS OF THE WAR.
  
THE BURIAL OF THE FLAG.
  
THE ROSE OF DEATH.
  
NOVEMBER 8TH, 1864.
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SONNETS FOR THE TIMES.
 1. 
I. THE DARK TOWER.
 2. 
II. DELIVERANCE.
 3. 
III. THE ABOLITIONISTS.
 4. 
IV. THE DAWN OF PEACE.
 5. 
V. THE DEATH-BLOW.
 6. 
VI. THE MARTYR.
 7. 
VII. OUR COUNTRY.

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287

THE HIGHER LAW.

Man was not made for forms, but forms for man.
And there are times when law itself must bend
To that clear spirit always in the van,
Outspeeding human justice. In the end
Potentates, not humanity, must fall.
Water will find its level, fire will burn,
The winds must blow around the earthly ball,
The earthly ball by day and night must turn;
Freedom is typed in every element.
Man must be free, if not through law, why then
Above the law, until its force be spent,
And justice brings a better. But, O, when,
Father of Light, when shall the reckoning come
To lift the weak, and strike the oppressor dumb?
1850.
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