 | The cup of youth and other poems |  |
60
SUNSET AT SEA.
At eve, by the Arno, a thought-kingStood flushed with the wonder of knowing—
He first of all creatures, he only—
How still stands God's sun; how earth ever
Trails spinning behind its swift motion
Unending forevers of sunsets.
Grew the thought through a childhood of groping,
The thought that last year was God's only?
Did it smite, like the levin, at midnight
A brain that was darkened with thinking,
Strong, terrible, joyful, and brilliant,
A splendour that fiercely illumines
And troubles the wondering vision
With doubt of the truth it revealeth?
Was it born as between two quick heart-throbs,
Surging up from the ever-unquestioned
To the questioning sight of the conscious,
A thought that should gather and grow, till,
Like billows an earthquake has builded,
It swept o'er the landmarks of knowledge,
And crumbled the distant horizon?
Passed he then to the street and the market,
61
Still gentle, and childlike, and humble,
Aware not his forehead bore proudly
The terrible crown of the thought-king?
June, 1888.
62
TO THE SEA AT DAWN.
The morn exults in new-born light
And, black athwart its gold,
The broken fragments of the night
Rock in their cradles old.
And, black athwart its gold,
The broken fragments of the night
Rock in their cradles old.
Ho, sturdy wooer of the great!
What need to mock thy power
With feeble woman-tales that prate
Of manhood's yielding hour?
What need to mock thy power
With feeble woman-tales that prate
Of manhood's yielding hour?
The Norseland fury in us craves
To feel thy billows leap;
Claims kinship with yon bounding waves,
Calls cousin with the deep.
To feel thy billows leap;
Claims kinship with yon bounding waves,
Calls cousin with the deep.
The vigour of thy strident song,
Thy rhythmic marches gay,
Rang music to thy kinsmen strong
Where'er their hero way:
Thy rhythmic marches gay,
Rang music to thy kinsmen strong
Where'er their hero way:
As when, upon the Spaniards' flight,
Was loosed thy stormiest power
For God and right and England's might,
In England's darkest hour;
Was loosed thy stormiest power
63
In England's darkest hour;
Or when across the death-watched wave
Our stern sea eagle swooped,
And where the bravest led the brave
His fierce young eaglets trooped.
Our stern sea eagle swooped,
And where the bravest led the brave
His fierce young eaglets trooped.
O poet, lord of many a mood,
Like him of Arthur's hall,
That knight so bold in battle rude,
So soft at woman's call,
Like him of Arthur's hall,
That knight so bold in battle rude,
So soft at woman's call,
Thy vassal waves this summer morn,
Far o'er thy weary length,
Freight with the strength of sweetness born
The sweetness born of strength;
Far o'er thy weary length,
Freight with the strength of sweetness born
The sweetness born of strength;
And let them whisper love for me
By one remembered beach,—
Love stronger than thy wildest sea,
Kind as thy gentlest speech.
By one remembered beach,—
Love stronger than thy wildest sea,
Kind as thy gentlest speech.
May 30, 1888.
64
SUNSET AT SEA.
Adown the thronged deck of the steamerThe babble of voices fails slowly,
As if unseen fingers of silence
Were laid on the lips of the speakers.
A blazon of azure-flecked crimson,
White-starred with the quick-leaping foam-jets,
Falls swift on the shuddering ocean;
While high overhead to the zenith
Imperious splendours of scarlet
Flare strange, such as up from the darkness
That fell on Gethsemane's stillness
Rose red with the anguish of nature.
Slow fadeth the colour that troubles
The soul with mysterious terror,
Till unto the sky and the waters
Is born the cool quiet of purples
That calm the stirred heart of the seer.
The peace which is past understanding,
Which only the heart can interpret,
Comes clad in the shadows of twilight
With meanings elusive and tender,
That die at the mere touch of thought, and
Are frail as the firstlings of April.
65
Ethereal, viewless, and solemn,
Mysterious gift of the evening,
A love dew that comes, how we know not,
And freshens all life, how we wist not;
Till down to the paling horizon
Are poured the night shadows, while ever
The huge striving bulk of the steamer
Hurls on through the dark and the ocean.
June 1, 1888.
66
FORGET-ME-NOTS.
ON THE ALBULA PASS.
They peep above the boulders gray,
Stand dark against the snows,
Leap modest from the billow's kiss
Gray Albula bestows.
Stand dark against the snows,
Leap modest from the billow's kiss
Gray Albula bestows.
They bend beneath the cloaking mist,
Crowd every open spot,
And murmur with assurance gay
One phrase, “Forget me not.”
Crowd every open spot,
And murmur with assurance gay
One phrase, “Forget me not.”
The gentle chorus rises still
Unanimously sweet;
They seem to leave their quiet nooks,
And cluster round my feet.
Unanimously sweet;
They seem to leave their quiet nooks,
And cluster round my feet.
Forget thee not? Yet how to learn
The very ample art
To love an army corps of maids,
All bidding for my heart!
The very ample art
To love an army corps of maids,
All bidding for my heart!
There may be who would think those eyes,
So constant and so true,
To be—forgive the daring thought—
Monotonously blue.
So constant and so true,
67
Monotonously blue.
And then, if all these myriad lips
To but one song are set,
There might be luxury in the power
A little to forget.
To but one song are set,
There might be luxury in the power
A little to forget.
No gay arithmetic of love
Could solve this puzzling sum,
Nor leave a Mormon lover aught
But resolutely dumb;
Could solve this puzzling sum,
Nor leave a Mormon lover aught
But resolutely dumb;
For all historic cases fail
Before my hopeless lot,
When fifty thousand viewless tongues
Say just “Forget me not.”
Before my hopeless lot,
When fifty thousand viewless tongues
Say just “Forget me not.”
Nor yet am I the first or last
By whom their cry is heard;
They breathe it to the careless wind,
They cast it to the bird.
By whom their cry is heard;
They breathe it to the careless wind,
They cast it to the bird.
Who gave these mountain-maids their song?
What lover's murmured thought
Unnumbered centuries ago
Their tender legend taught?
What lover's murmured thought
Unnumbered centuries ago
Their tender legend taught?
68
Or was it from some wounded soul
In torture and despair
They learned these faint, appealing words,—
The wail of human prayer?
In torture and despair
They learned these faint, appealing words,—
The wail of human prayer?
I know not. Love is boundless, large;
Past Albula's cloud-towers
A joyous shaft of sunshine falls
On me and on the flowers.
Past Albula's cloud-towers
A joyous shaft of sunshine falls
On me and on the flowers.
Mysterious vestals of the hill,
In pretty council met,
Pray teach me now that wiser art,
How easiest to forget.
In pretty council met,
Pray teach me now that wiser art,
How easiest to forget.
The song is hushed, the drooping mist
Shrouds every silent form,
And thoughtful down the lonely pass
I move amid the storm.
Shrouds every silent form,
And thoughtful down the lonely pass
I move amid the storm.
July 8, 1888.
| The cup of youth and other poems | |