Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Fitzgerald Edited by William Aldis Wright: In seven volumes |
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| OCCASIONAL VERSES |
 | Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Fitzgerald |  |
333
OCCASIONAL VERSES
TO A LADY SINGING.
Canst thou, my Clora, declare,
After thy sweet song dieth
Into the wild summer air,
Whither it falleth or flieth?
Soon would my answer be noted,
Wert thou but sage as sweet throated.
After thy sweet song dieth
Into the wild summer air,
Whither it falleth or flieth?
Soon would my answer be noted,
Wert thou but sage as sweet throated.
Melody, dying away,
Into the dark sky closes,
Like the good soul from her clay
Like the fair odour of roses:
Therefore thou now art behind it,
But thou shalt follow, and find it.
Into the dark sky closes,
Like the good soul from her clay
Like the fair odour of roses:
334
But thou shalt follow, and find it.
Nothing can utterly die;
Music, aloft upspringing,
Turns to pure atoms of sky
Each golden note of thy singing:
And that to which morning did listen
At eve in a Rainbow may glisten.
Music, aloft upspringing,
Turns to pure atoms of sky
Each golden note of thy singing:
And that to which morning did listen
At eve in a Rainbow may glisten.
Beauty, when laid in the grave,
Feedeth the lily beside her,
Therefore the soul cannot have
Station or honour denied her;
She will not better her essence,
But wear a crown in God's presence.
Feedeth the lily beside her,
Therefore the soul cannot have
Station or honour denied her;
She will not better her essence,
But wear a crown in God's presence.
[ON ANNE ALLEN.]
I
The wind blew keenly from the Western sea,And drove the dead leaves slanting from the tree—
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith—
Heaping them up before her Father's door
When I saw her whom I shall see no more—
We cannot bribe thee, Death.
335
2
She went abroad the falling leaves among,She saw the merry season fade, and sung
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith—
Freely she wander'd in the leafless wood,
And said that all was fresh, and fair, and good,
She knew thee not, O Death.
3
She bound her shining hair across her brow,She went into the garden fading now;
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith—
And if one sigh'd to think that it was sere,
She smiled to think that it would bloom next year:
She fear'd thee not, O Death.
4
Blooming she came back to the cheerful roomWith all the fairer flowers yet in bloom,
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith—
A fragrant knot for each of us she tied,
And placed the fairest at her Father's side—
She cannot charm thee, Death.
5
Her pleasant smile spread sunshine upon all;We heard her sweet clear laughter in the Hall;—
336
We heard her sometimes after evening prayer,
As she went singing softly up the stair—
No voice can charm thee, Death.
6
Where is the pleasant smile, the laughter kind,That made sweet music of the winter wind?
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith—
Idly they gaze upon her empty place,
Her kiss hath faded from her Father's face;—
She is with thee, O Death
[TO A VIOLET.]
Fair violet! sweet saint!Answer us—Whither art thou gone?
Ever thou wert so still, and faint,
And fearing to be look'd upon.
We cannot say that one hath died,
Who wont to live so unespied,
But crept away unto a stiller spot,
Where men may stir the grass, and find thee not.
| Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Fitzgerald | |